Helmiä ja sikoja

If you want some serious fun, this is not for you. It is impossible to apply the word serious to this film in any way. This is hilarious fun, but it probably doesn't appeal to foreigners. As a Finn, I laughed my ass off though, so that tears came into my eyes. The tagline said: "You'll laugh. Or cry and laugh", meaning that you will laugh, or you will be compelled to do it. It is a much used Finnish saying, and it was true.

The problem about Finnish films is that they are rarely understood by foreigners. Foreigners seem to have a problem with direct nudity, especially I've heard remarks of masculine nudity. Not one single scene showed nakedness in the way Hollywood films usually do (I will not go into details, you know all about it). But I won't generalise, go and see for yourself. Finnish people just have a very different approach and attitude towards nakedness...

Exaggeration is the key that builds the humour in this film. Saara's song was lovely, but the way it was filmed was really over tragic, making it in fact funny. And sweet. The reveling of the brothers is also very tragicomic. Just like in Pahat pojat or Pitkä, kuuma kesä.

I did see this on premiere night on Kinopalatsi and I was totally surprised. Film was really funny, casting was good and dialog was great. The story wasn't so good, but who cares, this is comedy.

Still I don't recommend this to non-Finland speakers, because the comedy is mostly based on dialogue and subtitles must take part of the jokes. If you really like Finish movies, go see this one.

9/10 Comedy

Who knew Finnish people were funny? (Who knew they actually had electricity?)

Casual xenophobia aside I saw this as part of Edinburgh Film Festival and of the (too) many movies I saw this was second only to Old Boy on my favourites list and certainly the biggest crowdpleaser. Perhaps it's because I sat through for too many 'worthy' efforts but this really funny and had my friends, who weren't keen and came under duress, laughing throughout. A buoy of simple charms in a sea of pretension, the tale of the four brothers and their get-rich-quick schemes isn't exactly original but more than makes up for it in charm and feeling. Are all Finnish movies this good?

Once again director Perttu Leppä has made small budget movie about Finnish youth. This time it´s all about 4 brothers, who are indebted to 2 gangsters and their old man is in jail. Lots of hilarious moments especially for you, who liked the previous Perttu Leppä movie "Pitkä Kuuma Kesä".

I liked Leppä's previous film "Pitkä kuuma kesä" but didn't find it as great as most young Finns seem to. So I didn't expect very much of this. Maybe that's why I was almost blown away and really laughed a lot during this flick.

The characters are quite rough stereotypes but the actors do a great (or at least decent) job portraying them thus making them painfully disgusting or funny. Especially Amanda Pilke's performance as young Saara really hits the spot. What disturbs a bit is that sometimes people start laughing in the middle of their lines. I really believe that is intentional and not just poor acting. However, it sometimes makes you feel as if the actors are making up their lines as they speak and thus have a hard time showing a serious face. This disturbs especially with Unto Helo, whose acting in "Pitkä kuuma kesä" wasn't really my favorite performance either.

I think the funny bits are mostly in the dialogue, so non-Finns might not find this nearly as funny as I did. I also guess you get the most of this if you're under thirty years old (at least mentally :) ) because most of the

action involves young guys messing around and boozing. Still, there's also a plot so this is not just a Jackass episode.