Tsingiska

A small group of environmental activists land on and take over an oil rig that seems to have been left vacant. No crew members can be found, but odd things start to happen nonetheless. Sound familiar? It should, as the same formula has been used in horror movies before, over and over. Isolation, internal conflicts between crew members...'Alien' turned it into a franchise, and 'Ghost Ship' wasn't half bad either. This low-budget Brit flick however is no 'Alien'.

You can tell it's director Julian Kean's first time on the wheel of a project of this magnitude. The camera work is simple, minimal. Short clips of the crew keeping a video journal try to establish a documentary-like feel, adding a sense of realism...or trying to, anyway. The acting is for the most part actually surprisingly good. However, where the movie is really lacking, is the writing. There's no credible dialogue, and while the movie takes forever to really get going, there isn't enough character development or emphasis on any one event to actually provide the audience with an interest in what is happening. Nothing happens at first, then a lot happens at once, and you are left wondering what the point was.

There's serious effort here, especially from the cast, but the material they are working with just doesn't amount to much.

Based on a novel of the same name by the Finnish author, Antti Tuuri, this delicious late-80's comedy builds its dark humour on the stereotypical mentality of the northern part of Finland. While perhaps not as entertaining to a person unfamiliar with Finnish traditions, the brilliant acting, directing, plus the warm, beautiful Finnish summer more than make up for the cultural gap.

The story begins with a group of brothers with their families coming up to honour the memory of their recently deceased father. Spending time together, opening old wounds and creating new ones... it all boils down to brotherhood. No matter what happens, brothers take care of their own. Considering that the events of the movie all take place within a 24 hour period, nothing feels too rushed. The film rolls on naturally, and at least for yours truly there was not a single dull minute.

The best part about this film is the cast that they managed to put together for the movie. Esko Salminen, Taneli Mäkelä, Vesa Vierikko and Esko Nikkari are all well-known, extremely talented Finnish actors, but this movie contains among the best performances of their careers. Especially Mäkelä and Nikkari are brilliant; Mäkelä's quiet and contemplative character has depth that you can just feel...and Nikkari's portrayal of a town drunk is so convincing, you would not believe that it is merely an act.

Funny, dramatic, entertaining and definitely a movie that makes you FEEL.

Matti Kassila, the director of another critically acclaimed thriller, "Kaasua, Komisario Palmu" (1961), is one of the few Finnish directors who have a natural eye for establishing a spine-tingling and admittably sometimes scary mood simply with carefully selected angles and a soundtrack to match.

"Jäähyväiset presidentille" tells the story of a disgruntled weapons expert who has reached a conclusion: someone has to assassinate the president, in order to make a political and ethical statement. And since no one else will, it's up to him to do it. But first he will have to take out some general public, to prepare for the main event.

What sets this movie apart from many other films that deal with the assassination of a president, is not only the fact that the president being portrayed here is not a fictitious one, but Urho Kekkonen, a brilliant politics strategist who led the country for a quarter of a century, and still remains as the most remembered, respected and admired head of state Finland has known. Also, the events take place in a country where no one has, to date, ever tried to actually assassinate the president.

It is difficult to take a natural and realistic setting, and combine it with a string of events which would be very unlikely to take place in that setting - and still make it work. This is where Kassila, however, perfectly succeeds. Hannu Lauri makes a brilliant performance as the cold-hearted, on-edge sociopath - and yet he is the opposite of the typical Hollywood-style assassin; he doesn't have a background in Secret Service or Special Forces, he seems nothing more than a regular joe from the street who gives the credit for his bitterness to the government.

This movie is the first of its kind in Finland, and has ever since been the last. Not many would have the nerve to try and pull this off in Finland and not have it seem a ridiculously unrealistic movie. But in the hands of Kassila, it seems, anything can turn into gold.

Enjoy the movie.