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Blackout (2008/I) More at IMDbPro »


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Overview

User Rating:
5.0/10   162 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Writer:
Jukka-Pekka Siili (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Blackout on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 December 2008 (Finland) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Which one is the first to return - memory or the murderer?
Plot:
Recovering from a nail gun shot to the head and 13 months of coma, doctor Pekka Valinta starts to unravel the mystery of his past, still suffering from total amnesia. | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Reviews:
A crumbling masterpiece more (1 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Petteri Summanen ... Pekka Valinto
Jenni Banerjee ... Laura Koskimies

Irina Björklund ... Anne Hartela
Ismo Kallio ... Ismo Valinto
Lena Meriläinen ... Hanna Kajaste

Mikko Kouki ... Juha Pasanen
Mari Perankoski ... Mari Koski

Mikko Leppilampi ... Kari Tuikkanen
Eppu Salminen ... Arto Suominen
Risto Kaskilahti ... Risto Vierikko
Miitta Sorvali ... Osastonhoitaja
Hannu-Pekka Björkman ... Aleksi Partio
Asko Sarkola ... Sairaalan johtaja
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alexander Anria ... Arkistonhoitaja
Karoliina Blackburn ... Lääkäri Jorvissa
Jenni Halko ... Pekan leikkausryhmäläinen #2
Anna Halonen ... Pekan leikkausryhmäläinen #3
Mia Halonen-Frazier ... Kaikkosen omainen #1 (as Mia Halonen)
Heikki Hilander ... Huoltomies
Maiju Jalava ... Pekan leikkausryhmäläinen #4
Kaj Kankaanpää ... Poliisi
Tomi Kerminen ... Poliisi
Pentti Korhonen ... Nuoren potilaan vanhempi #2
Jarkko Lempiäinen ... Pekan leikkausryhmäläinen #5

Emilia Leppilampi ... Naistenklinikan lääkäri
Jyrki Levä ... Remonttimies
Joona Majurinen ... Kaikkosen omainen #2
Esko Mäkelä ... Ministerin autonkuljettaja
Eero Milonoff ... Sivari katolla
Kari Parkkinen ... Poliisi
Saska Pulkkinen ... Arkiston työharjoittelija
Eeva Putro ... Annen avustaja
Jorma Reinilä ... Poliisi
Jukka-Pekka Siili ... Lääkäri (as JP Siili)
Onni-Oskari Siili ... Nuori potilas
Tarja Siimes ... Nuoren potilaan vanhempi #1
Verneri Summanen ... Pekka lapsena
Hannu Vuorinen ... Potilas Kaikkonen
Kalervo Werkkala ... Pekan leikkausryhmäläinen #1
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Additional Details

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Language:
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Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Pamela Tola was originally casted, but dropped out. more
Soundtrack:
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FAQ

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful.
A crumbling masterpiece, 29 December 2008
7/10
Author: shadowflar3 from Finland

From the start on it is clear that this movie has a beautiful setting and prominent, talented actors. The soundtrack is so close to what you would expect that you hardly pay any attention to it most of the time. Yet as you continue watching you'll begin to wonder if this is your average mystery thriller after all. By the time the credits roll up, you're sure of it.

What ultimately causes the movie to fall apart is the plot. The role of the mysterious events in the past is augmented and the tension keeps building up, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats until suddenly the original conflict is seemingly forgotten and the film takes a focus on another series of misfit events. The viewer thereby is provoked to think up ways to link the two of these mysteries together and form a solution, although the characters in the movie are somehow completely oblivious to the idea. A couple of very intriguing characters and relationships are also presented, none of which turn out to connect to the key events either. To put it simple, there are just overwhelmingly more pieces that one needs to complete the puzzle. Most of the time when you are certain you picked up an obviously intentional hint and are waiting for the moment to call out "I knew it!", it just never comes and you are being offered an abundance of hints leading elsewhere instead. This movie certainly surprises you all the time but only because it gives you no chance of guessing the next turn of events.

In longer run, the plot doesn't slowly unfold, rather it is a game of passive guessing and not-so-surprising revelations that are rubbed on your face. Towards the end you just stop guessing and semi-reluctantly take whatever the film has to offer. After that they get twisted and canceled out by both past and present events so that in the end the viewer DOES have to do some piecing-up. This dynamic and chaotic nature of the movie is naturally brought up and supposedly justified by the main character's amnesia, but this movie rides on the flashbacks too much to keep the audience with it.

In the end, I couldn't even really tell what the theme of the movie was. The tagline supposedly lives up to its name ultimately but the middle portion of the movie deals with melodramatic relationships and surprisingly enough, problems of the Finnish health care system. Every time there was a longer cut between the scenes I could sense the audience holding their breath wondering if the credits would roll up or not, and eventually they did.

Still the movie has its merits which aren't to be neglected. The actors were convincing playing their roles even though I've mainly seen Petteri Summanen do comedy pieces before. The settings and props were on par with Hollywood films and overall I couldn't just believe they spoke Finnish in a film of visual beauty of this magnitude.

To sum it up, perhaps this movie should have been put together better. All the ingredients of an excellent film are clearly present but they aren't properly in their place. The plot is too complicated with fractured timeline but also seems to have a lot of air in it. I couldn't really recommend this to fans of mystery genre unless you're okay with not being able to solve or even find too much logic in it.

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Ending (spoiler) j-jameson
The dialogue between me and the movie *very minor spoiler* shadowflar3
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