Musta Jää was a great film that had a unique turn of events that not only kept my attention, but revived my faith in the concept of original films. The long and short of the film is that Saara (as played by Outi Mäenpää) suspects her husband Leo (as played by Martti Suosalo) of adultery, so she does some snooping. Not only does she manage to track down his new flame, Tuuli (as played by Ria Kataja), but she actually befriends her, under an assumed name, of course. She then breaks it off with Leo to sow the seeds of friendship in Tuuli, to advance her plot of revenge, as well as get some martial arts training in the meantime. After several (mildly clichéd) girl-power bonding scenes, they become best friends (as far as Tuuli knows), and they try to solve each others' problems, culminating in Saara calling herself and leaving a nasty message on her machine, leading to a restraining order being placed on Tuuli and Leo breaking up with her, effectively ruining her life, especially since it turns out she's pregnant with his baby. However, through a complex, although perfectly plausible, twist of events, Leo accidentally drinks a spiked drink that was meant for Tuuli and ends up freezing to death after falling asleep at the wheel and crashing his car.
All in all, this was, in my opinion, a very, very good film, one of the best I've seen this year, in fact. The twists the plot goes through were difficult for me to predict, which, given the number of movies I watch, is no small feat. For example, Saara's actions regarding Tuuli were almost counter-intuitive. I expected a confrontation right away, but instead, a friendship develops. This is something that I've never seen in any other films. Not only do they become friends, but they even have a minor lesbian experience towards the end of the film that was a beautiful combination of surprising and darkly funny, especially because Tuuli does feel a kind of love for Saara, but Saara has a burning hatred of Tuuli. The end of the movie was really good, too. After discovering Saara's plot and learning of Leo's death, Tuuli, in a shot at revenge, goes to the hospital after altering her appearance with hair dye and colored contacts (to avoid detection as she's not allowed in the hospital Saara works in, thanks to the restraining order) to get an abortion, but, after falling down a flight of stairs during a confrontation with Leo's sister (as played by Sara Paavolainen), she ends up getting both her life, and the life of her baby, saved by the now at-peace Saara, who wishes her "nothing but the best." The irony was just perfect. During the entirety of the movie, Saara was looking to kill Tuuli, but she ended up saving her. And it was on purpose, at that, as she recognized Tuuli's tattoo. I just felt that it was a perfectly twisted ending to a delightfully twisted movie. This movie gets good marks from me because, not only did it have an original and unpredictable sequence of events in the plot, but those events were all plausible. Everything that happened in the movie could definitely happen in real life, no question. There weren't any amazing coincidences or divine interventions, just actions and reactions, cause and effect. The choices the characters make are reasonable ones, too. No suicide missions, no flying off the handle, no superfluous, unreasonable aggression. Just people behaving as their situation dictates, yielding some amazing results. Other movies often have a weird turn of events or some crazy,unlikely coincidence to throw off the viewers, but everything here is perfectly plausible, if not likely, which I find most agreeable.
Another great thing about this movie is the way it explores the complexities of human interactions. The strange, complex relationships between Tuuli, Saara, and Leo are a perfect example of the classic response adults give children: "It's not that simple." All three of the main characters had mixed emotions for the other two; they all loved and resented each other, albeit in different ways. Saara resented Tuuli for her relationship with Leo, but she still was good friends with her, and you could see how uneasy she was when she finally betrayed her. She also resented Leo for being unfaithful, while simultaneously loving him, as they had been together for a long time and were deeply in love. This same complexity is reciprocated in the other two characters and it not only adds interest to the movie, as you try to decode to what ends the characters are progressing, but it also adds an extra dimension, a sort of sub-plot, as you see not the events that drive the main storyline, but also the ever-shifting opinions of each other that drive the actions in the first place. While I don't agree with the genre of "Psychological Thriller" that this movie was assigned, I do agree that, like in those movies, you really have to put yourself in the characters' shoes, and try to feel what they feel as you watch the movie. This is, to me, just one more reason to like this thoroughly enjoyable movie.
All in all, this was, in my opinion, a very, very good film, one of the best I've seen this year, in fact. The twists the plot goes through were difficult for me to predict, which, given the number of movies I watch, is no small feat. For example, Saara's actions regarding Tuuli were almost counter-intuitive. I expected a confrontation right away, but instead, a friendship develops. This is something that I've never seen in any other films. Not only do they become friends, but they even have a minor lesbian experience towards the end of the film that was a beautiful combination of surprising and darkly funny, especially because Tuuli does feel a kind of love for Saara, but Saara has a burning hatred of Tuuli. The end of the movie was really good, too. After discovering Saara's plot and learning of Leo's death, Tuuli, in a shot at revenge, goes to the hospital after altering her appearance with hair dye and colored contacts (to avoid detection as she's not allowed in the hospital Saara works in, thanks to the restraining order) to get an abortion, but, after falling down a flight of stairs during a confrontation with Leo's sister (as played by Sara Paavolainen), she ends up getting both her life, and the life of her baby, saved by the now at-peace Saara, who wishes her "nothing but the best." The irony was just perfect. During the entirety of the movie, Saara was looking to kill Tuuli, but she ended up saving her. And it was on purpose, at that, as she recognized Tuuli's tattoo. I just felt that it was a perfectly twisted ending to a delightfully twisted movie. This movie gets good marks from me because, not only did it have an original and unpredictable sequence of events in the plot, but those events were all plausible. Everything that happened in the movie could definitely happen in real life, no question. There weren't any amazing coincidences or divine interventions, just actions and reactions, cause and effect. The choices the characters make are reasonable ones, too. No suicide missions, no flying off the handle, no superfluous, unreasonable aggression. Just people behaving as their situation dictates, yielding some amazing results. Other movies often have a weird turn of events or some crazy,unlikely coincidence to throw off the viewers, but everything here is perfectly plausible, if not likely, which I find most agreeable.
Another great thing about this movie is the way it explores the complexities of human interactions. The strange, complex relationships between Tuuli, Saara, and Leo are a perfect example of the classic response adults give children: "It's not that simple." All three of the main characters had mixed emotions for the other two; they all loved and resented each other, albeit in different ways. Saara resented Tuuli for her relationship with Leo, but she still was good friends with her, and you could see how uneasy she was when she finally betrayed her. She also resented Leo for being unfaithful, while simultaneously loving him, as they had been together for a long time and were deeply in love. This same complexity is reciprocated in the other two characters and it not only adds interest to the movie, as you try to decode to what ends the characters are progressing, but it also adds an extra dimension, a sort of sub-plot, as you see not the events that drive the main storyline, but also the ever-shifting opinions of each other that drive the actions in the first place. While I don't agree with the genre of "Psychological Thriller" that this movie was assigned, I do agree that, like in those movies, you really have to put yourself in the characters' shoes, and try to feel what they feel as you watch the movie. This is, to me, just one more reason to like this thoroughly enjoyable movie.