Pitkä kuuma kesä (Long hot summer) is a story from the wild 80's, when rock was punk and summers were still hot. The story takes Patu (Unto Helo) from Helsinki, Capital of Finland to Joensuu, small town in the Eastern Finland. In the 80's living in Helsinki was "cool" and others living in the "countryside" were not that cool. Though Patu has to experience that this is not the case in Real Life - there are "cool" people also in the countryside.
This is a story of youth, playing punk, being cool and being in love. And all are brilliantly tied together in a heart-warming way, but without too much of sweetness. The slowly growing love-story between Patu and Noora (Hanna-Mari Karhinen) is only bonus to the fantastic storyline. Pitkä kuuma kesä looks very real and brings 80's Finland back to the 2000's, it is pure nostalgia to people who have lived their youth in that time.
The actors in this movie are young and raw but their work still looks professional. The acting never goes "over", but is very down to earth, which is very rare in Finnish movies.
