Schtrickt
Joined May 2005
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Reviews6
Schtrickt's rating
I rated this film 8 since it does have some brilliant qualities in its Finnish context. However, for some reason there has been a great number of youth-oriented films lately and this in one of them. And therefore, more mature audiences might find it a little tacky.
However, acting, writing, production, directing and filming are all of a high to top standard. The storyline has depth in searching for the meaning for the life of two soon-to-die-too-young guys who decide to cease the moment which is to be the rest of their lives.
A previous comment sounded very disappointed due to over-sized publicity campaign etc. which, unfortunately is true in today's Finnish cinema effectively in hands of a single production company of Selin. Still I would say that out of the three mentioned contemporary Finnish films (the others being Pahat Pojat and Levottomat3) Mombasa can be told to be Worlds apart.
I hope that we'll hear from the makers of this film soon again and perhaps for more mature audience, too. It's good to have a heart in film industry these days.
However, acting, writing, production, directing and filming are all of a high to top standard. The storyline has depth in searching for the meaning for the life of two soon-to-die-too-young guys who decide to cease the moment which is to be the rest of their lives.
A previous comment sounded very disappointed due to over-sized publicity campaign etc. which, unfortunately is true in today's Finnish cinema effectively in hands of a single production company of Selin. Still I would say that out of the three mentioned contemporary Finnish films (the others being Pahat Pojat and Levottomat3) Mombasa can be told to be Worlds apart.
I hope that we'll hear from the makers of this film soon again and perhaps for more mature audience, too. It's good to have a heart in film industry these days.
Kieslowski's colour trilogy must had been some sort of an inspiration to all the unattached trilogies we're having these days. Producer Markus Selin is one of the most influential producers in the Finnish film scene and is often credited as the man who brought Finnish commercial cinema back after some 40 years of absence in late 1990's.
The so called Restless-trilogy was meant to be a series of films directed by young directors about the state of the young adults in Finland. A great subject and a great idea although one could see the commercial aspects of this money-making early 30's demographics shine through.
The first part of the trilogy "Levottomat" (Restless, 1999)can be seen as a huge success for Finnish cinema being controversial, sexy and very much tapped into the moment in time as well as the subject. The second part "Minä ja Morrison" (Me and Morrison, 2001) was slightly dimmer success as for some reason it wasn't marketed as the second part. The film and acting were good, though the story ended a little suddenly and the deeper aspects of modern young adulthood were more absent than in "Levottomat".
The third part i.e. "Levottomat 3" (Restless 3, 2004) was a complete let-down of the trilogy. Huge skin-deep marketing, poor acting, poor dialogue, poor story and safe and "pop" choices in casting made sure that the audience felt sick about the whole trilogy. It is told that screenwriters resigned throughout the project and in the end it was just pure bad luck that the last one's name ended up in the credits. Whereas the earlier parts got their young directors to a beginning of a promising career, this one must had been the worst call-card for the poor director who obviously didn't know what sort of a money-making machinery she was getting into.
Sure I should write something about the film itself. Well, dialogue in "Oxford Finnish" is the first thing to take you of the mood of getting into the story. The story itself about sex-addicted young mother getting de-railed for her ambitions has a certain contemporary touch to it but the solid numb acting between her and his husband and her and the new lover of doom leaves everyone stone cold. The plot shows how things get from bad to worse and then a shimmering happyish ending.
I think the only positive thing in this film was to tie it to the contemporary Helsinki scenery at the time when the nations biggest building project (Kamppi commercial and traffic centre) was being built right in the middle of the city. Well, that's about it.
The so called Restless-trilogy was meant to be a series of films directed by young directors about the state of the young adults in Finland. A great subject and a great idea although one could see the commercial aspects of this money-making early 30's demographics shine through.
The first part of the trilogy "Levottomat" (Restless, 1999)can be seen as a huge success for Finnish cinema being controversial, sexy and very much tapped into the moment in time as well as the subject. The second part "Minä ja Morrison" (Me and Morrison, 2001) was slightly dimmer success as for some reason it wasn't marketed as the second part. The film and acting were good, though the story ended a little suddenly and the deeper aspects of modern young adulthood were more absent than in "Levottomat".
The third part i.e. "Levottomat 3" (Restless 3, 2004) was a complete let-down of the trilogy. Huge skin-deep marketing, poor acting, poor dialogue, poor story and safe and "pop" choices in casting made sure that the audience felt sick about the whole trilogy. It is told that screenwriters resigned throughout the project and in the end it was just pure bad luck that the last one's name ended up in the credits. Whereas the earlier parts got their young directors to a beginning of a promising career, this one must had been the worst call-card for the poor director who obviously didn't know what sort of a money-making machinery she was getting into.
Sure I should write something about the film itself. Well, dialogue in "Oxford Finnish" is the first thing to take you of the mood of getting into the story. The story itself about sex-addicted young mother getting de-railed for her ambitions has a certain contemporary touch to it but the solid numb acting between her and his husband and her and the new lover of doom leaves everyone stone cold. The plot shows how things get from bad to worse and then a shimmering happyish ending.
I think the only positive thing in this film was to tie it to the contemporary Helsinki scenery at the time when the nations biggest building project (Kamppi commercial and traffic centre) was being built right in the middle of the city. Well, that's about it.
Very humane story about a year ahead in the future where the World has changed but the humans in it haven't really.
All the references of futuristic kind have been interwoven perfectly to the story in which essentially everything breaths the lust and love for life no matter how ugly it has been so far. It also points out how unique we all are in noticing the beauty of it. Probably the most masculine "chick-flick" I could think of.. :) It also had an enormous influence on the days Architecture (See Lloyd's building of London by Richard Rogers or basically any of the mid-80's rock stage sets) and culture up to Batman Begins (see the trivia-section of its IMDb-page). Not that it would make this any better film because of them but obviously very inspiring to many anyhow.
Again, I have to mention that giving a 10 is not something I'd normally give to just any film but this one is among the exceptions.
All the references of futuristic kind have been interwoven perfectly to the story in which essentially everything breaths the lust and love for life no matter how ugly it has been so far. It also points out how unique we all are in noticing the beauty of it. Probably the most masculine "chick-flick" I could think of.. :) It also had an enormous influence on the days Architecture (See Lloyd's building of London by Richard Rogers or basically any of the mid-80's rock stage sets) and culture up to Batman Begins (see the trivia-section of its IMDb-page). Not that it would make this any better film because of them but obviously very inspiring to many anyhow.
Again, I have to mention that giving a 10 is not something I'd normally give to just any film but this one is among the exceptions.