LailaNextWeek

I just bought this film on DVD yesterday and watched it today. It is is certainly not your regular who-dun-it plus chasing-the-bad-guy-scene thriller. The hero is very unheroic, afraid and curious beyond belief. Still I found myself enjoying this, maybe not despite the before mentioned, but because of that. It all had a sense of realness to it, and that makes you care more for the protagonist (Henri). It all starts very slow-paced (showing the emptiness of Henris life as an would-like-to-be artist) but adds up to it, when he gets more and more absorbed by the secretive life of his neighbour. All of this is very stylish, despite the non-existent budget. (45.000 Dollar for a 35mm-feature!!!). You have to listen to the director's commentary, which is very interesting and tells us how crazy the circumstances during the creation of this "underground"movie have been. I just loved the gangster-mob from Finnland. This movie looks like nothing from Germany. It is a small film, so you shouldn't expect a big Hollywood production. The FSK-18 rating in Germany is beyond me. FSK-16 would habe been enough. And yeah: We have a chasing-scene. But the bad guys chase the hero! I love the little kittie in the final credits. 8 out of 10 for creativity versus big budget.