Armomurhaaja

This was probably my first Finnish movie that I watched and it wasn't bad. It was a bit weird sometimes but the story is good enough to keep you entertained. It's a bit hard though, certainly if you're an animal lover like myself, and even if you know that no animals got hurt whilst making this movie, it still remains a bit hard to watch at times. The message of the movie is just karma, and karma is a bitch. Don't do to others what you don't want to happen to yourself, that's basically it. Matti Onnismaa, I never heared about him before, gave a good performance playing the euthanizer/vigilante. It's a bit dark, a bit slow, but that's how the character is so the movie portrays him perfectly. Not bad to watch once.

"Everyone has to pay for the pain that they've caused. Pain needs to be balanced."

Every detail was just perfect in this Finnish low-budget indie. From the first second, this film intrigued me and managed to hold my full attention. Not only the magnificent acting of Matti Onnismaa and Hannamaija Nikander, as the bitter and sinister person Veijo and the strange figure Lotta whose sexual preference is also rather lugubrious, caused that. The narrative and the message that simmered under the surface also fascinated me. Yet it's not an easy, everyday film. On the one hand, there's the language. Finnish isn't something I'm confronted with on a daily basis (well, for everything there's a first time), so I understood absolutely nothing. On the other hand, the story itself is rather unorthodox with the euthanizing of pets as a central topic. Not exactly cheerful material, even though it sometimes felt comical.

Veijo is the local freelancer who offers his services to help pets out of their misery in an inexpensive way. He's, therefore, a not so well-liked competitor of the local veterinarian. To be honest, nobody likes him. Veijo thus creates its own Pet Sematary. Dogs are simply shot in an adjacent forest, after which their necklace is dangling from a branch as the only remembrance. Cats and other minuscule creatures from the animal kingdom are gassed in a pimped station wagon. A cat carrier graveyard next to his meager shed is the final result. The first ten minutes alone made it clear an extraordinary film was presented to me.

Euthanizer is a film about pain and suffering. And according to Veijo, pain needs to be balanced. And that's something this pipe-smoking anti-social person applies in his life. Also on himself. The owners who bring their sick, disobedient or simply annoying pets can expect a psychological analysis first. Veijo apparently has the gift of being a dog whisperer. And some of those owners get a similar treatment as their pet. In the same way, he approaches his dying and suffering father, an alcoholic who apparently treated Veijo very badly and brutal during his childhood.

The moment Lotta enters Veijo's life, a life in which human contact is quite an obstacle for Veijo, I can vividly imagine his confusion about his feelings towards her and at the same time about her reasonably perverted fantasy. The reason why she feels attracted to Veijo was unclear to me. Was his aloofness or morbid profession something she related to? Or did she have suicidal thoughts for herself? Is she fascinated by death in a macabre way? It was a mystery to me. But they certainly go down in history as the most bizarre couple.

The weakest element in the whole film was for me the would-be Finnish neo-Nazi club "Soldiers of Finland". Notwithstanding that Petri (Jari Virman), who is only too keen to be part of this gang of jackasses, has an important part in the denouement, I thought it was a laughable fact. Apart from stealing some car tires and some provocative behavior, they seem far from being dangerous. And when they are singing as four choir boys for a karaoke machine, the image of these pseudo machos changes into purebred sissies. There's even one of them who can't control his emotions during that musical moment.

Euthanizer is a cruel and filthy film. Filthy in multiple ways. A film that shows how cruel people can be. A film with contradictions as well. Gasifying animals with the exhaust fumes of an old station wagon is, in my opinion, not a peaceful and pleasant way. And yet Veijo is an animal lover who wants to put these poor creatures out of their misery. Euthanizer is breathtaking. A gem. Fans of small-budget non-mainstream films will enjoy this. I did for sure.

Certainly original with a permutation of genres throughout that leaves this not yielding to any one definition. Dark yes, comedic yes, beautifully European. Some will cringe, some will laugh. Involves some human and animal trauma, be warned, though all of it justified in the films universe by the philosophy of a character. I wont be forgetting about this film, though I wish I did not watch it, pretty heavy and gnarly in places. Humor this dark, for me, is more dark than humorous. I must be getting old !! :)

The story is a bizarre mixture of blunt-force exploration of everyday life, and disturbing behavior bordering on cruelty. Teemu Nikki manages to humanize and rationalize his dark, disenfranchised characters, while pushing the limits of likability with ease. At times hard to watch, especially for the animal lover, "Euthanizer" touches ground in experimental, exploitative states. There is balance and breath, if only slightly, in a cast able bring to life fully developed characters that feel natural.

The effects are stark, visceralmoments of realism that cause knee-jerk "look away" urges. There is dark sense that lingers over every moment that tickles at shock value simply by experiencing the events asthey unfold. The subject matter and in-your -face cruelty create the real horror.

Overall "Euthanizer" is gonna be one of those films you either like or you hate. It blends the darkside of everyday affair in arthouse fashion. The story disturbing and compelling. Characters are recognizable and easy to hate.The things you see unfold are harsh and hard to watch, but it is worth the watch

A small, confined and precisely executed movie about an emotionally scarred middle-aged man, who euthanizes pets - and judges their owners while doing it. It's sort of missing the point to call Armomurhaaja a thriller; at its core Armomurhaaja is a comedy, a very, very dark comedy about moral relativism and purism. Topics that are visited in movies way too rarely. Armomurhaaja is the bluntest examination on morality seen on the silver screen in ages. And a successful one at that. Actor Onnismaa's cantankerous, unrelenting, uncompromising, stubborn and anachronistic character demands to be taken seriously, because he will not sell out his values, and makes a convincing argument that his values - while not his methods - should be universal values.

The experienced Teemu Nikki is an original thinker, and knows how to make movies. Armomurhaaja looks about five times its budget (the IMDb estimated production cost is, if anything, an over-estimation) and is told in a sure-footed manner. It is also the best friend an animal, a pet, can have in the cinemaverse.