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Pihalla (Finnish) [Screwed]

A first gay themed film from Finland. No wonder I was wondering throughout the film, why this accent doesn’t sound familiar at all. In the growing trend of coming out gay films, this film is another one of those movies in which being queer is only one of the adolescent issues, rather than the defining characteristic. It is refreshing to have sexuality be only one aspect of the story.

Miku is 17 year old and just figuring and venturing out into sex and sexuality. His older brother Sebu talks him into throwing a party for his friends and also invite the girl whom Miku is very interested in. The house gets completely smashed and the parents come back angry and as a result Miku now has to spend the summer with them at their summer cottage in the country. Miku meets Elias, the boy next door, another 17 year old gay boy very comfortable in his sexuality. The two of them form an unlikely friendship and hang out with each other all the time. The friendship ultimately leads to physical sexual connect which neither of them thinks much of. For Miku, it is something he is coming to terms with but for Elias, we don’t know much. We find out that his sister is always high on drugs and their mother is in depression since their father left. The two boys decide that this ‘relationship’ that they have is just till summer and then they move on their respective paths. Miku eventually comes out to his brother and his parents who all take it very sportingly. Elias needs to deal with his own issues and Miku decides to take charge of his own life and will not let himself be thrown to the side so easily.

This film was a little bit of a mixed bag for me. At one end I did appreciate the realistic depiction of a young gay man’s sexual awakening, and the tender and erotic interactions of the two main characters, but on the other hand, it gets a little tedious to just witness the interactions between them and waiting for something to happen. I did like the fact that since Miku has just come out and had his first sexual experience with Elias, he would want to be clingy but his character showed immense maturity, when he himself suggests that why don’t they make this as their summer fling rather than anything serious. Both the boys have some sort of family dysfunctionality going on but the boys find happiness in the company of each other. I loved that. What I also loved was the character of Sebu, Miku’s brother. He barely had 2-3 scenes but in those scenes, it is amazing to see the love, warmth and care he shows for his younger brother. Sometimes the smallest of scenes make the most impact. When Miku comes out to his brother nad the phone abruptly disconnects, that leaves Miku confused and sad of his brother’s behaviour. And then he gets a “heart/love” message from his brother and his face just lits up. The acceptance from his brother meant a lot to him and that really short scene shows maturity on the director’s part.

Had the normal everyday escapades of 2 young teenagers and their interactions edited short, this film could have been a really cool film. The boys are good looking and talented and the country side is gorgeous. What’s missing is a tighter screenplay. Nevertheless, I still would rate the movie as above average and something that could be enjoyed on a lazy day. (6/10)

Comments

luigi43 said…
Looks like Finland is a new frontier for themed films and TV shows .
But it's still hard to understand the approach of their directors , at least to the accustomed of a gay themed ones. Both ' boys families are , to say an euphemism , misfits and almost umbeliable . But that's it .
I was a bit disappointing for the lack of "hot" scenes , considering how they are handsome . But Finland , for policals reason , is still under the influence of their eastern neighbors . May be next .Thanks allways for Your hard work .
Golu said…
have you seen anything else from Finland?
luigi43 said…
Tom of Finland ,o.c. , the biography of the omoerotic cartoonist and waiting for " a moment in the reeds". The latter one wanna know the end before watching. This is a very silly attitude , I know ,but that's me!
Golu said…
nice. Ill add them to my list
Jaroslaw said…
Life is conflicted and people are not consistent, still this movie made little sense to me. I didn't understand why Miku's mother threw out his cellphone, and I sure wouldn't have gotten away with calling my mother a crazy bitch at that age. Elias' mother seemed normal at the lunch with Miku's parents and totally zoned out later. Elias seemed like he wanted love, admitted he was a "dickhead" at the end to the guy he was with for two years and then says why should he care about returning his call. The main reviewer called Miku "mature" for recognizing this would only be a summer fling. Yes, he would/could have that opinion if he was 40, not 17. I call that unbelievable. This was well acted otherwise, I like the fact that it felt like an expensive Hollywood production, but some of the subplots were unrealistic as well. For one, I don't know why the house had to get trashed when they had a party and why Miku took credit when it was his brother's party.
Golu said…
Thanks for your views. I think part of your questions are already answered by you. Its as simple as the fact that people are not cinsistent. Two 17-year olds could behave in 2 very very different ways. It doesn't mean one if right v/s the other. Sure, it might be unrealistic to have a teenage refer to sex as a summer fling but not highly impossible and thats what made me think that the character is supposed to be a bit more mature than we are made to believe. But I do understand your point of view as well. This is what makes movie watching interesting because we all have our own interpretations, likes and dislikes; yet we all have one thing in common that we like to watch movies :)
Miisu said…
Well, it seems like this film also needs a bit of clarifying insight of a frozen Norther witch :D

All these events have actually happened to the members of the crew or people they know. Yup, the thrashed cottage after a teenagers' party, the sister stealing clothes and the stark naked walk back home - all that has been real at least once. This is what happens when you're forced to be in the half darkness and total darkness 9 months of the year and the only time of sunlight is the 12 weeks of summer when basically everyone goes onto carpe diem mode. The darkness makes Northern people drink (that means: to get drunk beyond oblivion) more, and sadly also more suicidal. So when we actually get a sunny summer, we... kinda... lose it :D And such parties are considered an adventure in Finland (and Elias asking "and where was my invitation?" after Miku describes the puke on the walls, the blood on the floor and the broken glass table, is very real indeed).

The second thing is the "summer fling". It cannot actually be translated as that, since in the English cultural space the summer fling is more like an unexpected love at first sight that can actually continue after the summer is over. In Finland it's a very special Finnish THING. Elias asks Miku, if he has a girlfriend, referring to her as "kesähoito" (summer pet). Nice of him, the adult men call that "kesäkissa" (summer kitty... OK, what the heck, I can be candid here, right? summer pussy). In Finland it has been a long unofficial tradition that men earn enough to enable their wives stay home and concentrate on raising their children. So when the school is over the wives pack up their stuff and children and head to the country - summer cottages, grandparents' farms, wherever. And they stay there until it's time for the children to go back to school again.

Meanwhile in the towns the men keep on working.... but they get themselves the summer kitties and have some fun, too. They start looking for those girls on Walpurgnight (the bonfire and wild party night before the 1st of May), that leaves about one month for grooming the girls... and when the wives and children are off, the fun starts. It's a special kind of relationship, where a lot happens. Since the end date of the relationship is already written in the calendar (both the men and summer kitties know it), there's no postponing, no petty fighting - it's the full carpe diem, let's do, let's go, let's party, let's make memories! And when the 16th of August comes, they part as friends, having had a summer full of happiness and memorable events. The wives? Yes, they know, too. They've seen their fathers having summer kitties and probably been a summer kitty themselves. And they won't nag about it, because they also know it won't last into the autumn or winter.

And the fact that the mother is so convinced that the father is gay - that's also a very Northern thing. VERY Northern thing. You see, we do not talk here, especially about emotions and among family members. We'd rather go to our friends and have them fill our head with all sorts of doubts and crap :D So the situation with the "whose gay porn is filling the hard drive" is also very believable to me. And the dialogue between Miku's mother and father also gives a hint of how deep the homophobia still is inside the people of that generation - if a man is into gardening and goes to the gym often, he must be gay, right?

Overall the team has managed to capture a piece of a very Finnish summer.

P.S! The mother throwing away the son's phone is the ultimate punishment there can be :D The children here are total smartphone addicts and consider being without a phone (or having some ancient phone, like Nokia 1100) being not just dead, but more extinct than dinosaurs. Hope this long rambling of mine managed to bring some light into the story of this film, so it makes more sense now. Greetings from Estonia!
Golu said…
oh wow! This is such a detailed insight. I mean, I guessed most of it but reading it as a first hand account rom someone who is there and has either gone through it themselves or their friends, makes it so much more interesting and realistic. But the stories of summer, flings and parties that you have mentioned makes the whole Scandinavia region so much more interesting.

PS: Talinn is the only place I have visited in Estonia a few years back and absolutely loved it.
Miisu said…
Tallinn is where I live :) Hi :) Actually pretty close to "the beach" that is a crucial location in "The Class" that I e-mailed you about a while ago.

I've noticed in the comments of Scandinavian films that people are kinda shocked about the heavy drinking that's going on there. Like - teenagers drinking whiskey and vodka straight from the bottle. Yup, while for example in the Mediterranean region the alcohol always accompanies food and getting drunk is considered not a very proper behaviour, in Scandi getting drunk is the actual goal. That's the too long Grand Darkness of autumn, winter and half the spring that really messes with people's brains here. Heavy sh*t.

About "Screwed" - I also LOVE the Northern sarcasm they have used in some of the lines. Like:
Elias: Let's go fishing!
Miku: Now?
Elias: No, the day after tomorrow.

or

Elias: Have you seen my socks?
Miku: Father's closet is over there, you can take some of his.
Elias: Is your father also in that closet?

Really a good piece of work, that film. Seriously. I'll have to save it for the Grand Darkness to keep my sanity intact, since I don't drink alcohol :D

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