The Home of Dark Butterflies (2008)

Juhani, 14 years old and tormented by a childhood trauma, has changed several foster parents from the age of eight. He is taken to an island, where there is a boys' home, run by a strict ... See full summary »

Director:

Dome Karukoski

Writers:

Dome Karukoski (collaborating writer), Leena Lander (novel)

Stars:

Niilo Syväoja, Tommi Korpela, Kristiina Halttu

8 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Niilo Syväoja	...	Juhani Johansson
Tommi Korpela	...	Olavi Harjula
Kristiina Halttu	...	Irene Harjula
Kati Outinen	...	Tyyne
Pertti Sveholm	...	Erik Johansson
Matleena Kuusniemi	...	Maire Johansson
Eero Milonoff	...	Salmi
Marjut Maristo	...	Vanamo Harjula
Roope Karisto	...	Sjöblom
Ville Saksela	...	Rinne
Niko Vakkuri	...	Hermanni Hämäläinen
Iiro Panula	...	Sulkava
Henri Huttunen	...	Simola
Heikki Nousiainen	...	Sosiaalijohtaja Rantala
Matti Onnismaa	...	Viranomainen

Storyline

Juhani, 14 years old and tormented by a childhood trauma, has changed several foster parents from the age of eight. He is taken to an island, where there is a boys' home, run by a strict superintendent, Olavi Harjula. Besides the seven boys that dwell there, there is the superintendent, his wife, his two daughters and a woman for menial help. Juhani is gradually accepted by his peers and strikes a friendship with the eldest daughter. When Harjula is advised that funding will stop for his school due to his harsh methods, he decides to start a silkworm project for self-funding. All the boys agree to stay and help him, apart from Juhani, who expects to go back to his family that wants him back.

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Plot Keywords:

older woman younger man relationship | bloody face | female wears a swimsuit | punched in the face | silkworm | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Official Finnish entry for Best Foreign Language Film contest of 81st Academy Awards.

User Reviews

Lack of realism posed as art

Dome Karukoski made himself known in the Finnish cinema with the movie 'Tyttö sinä olet tähti'. This movie is very similar in at least in two aspects: In both movies we can see "teenage" love tension. The girl in this movie, actor Marjut Maristo is actually about 23 years old and the boy is about 18 years old. The other similar thing about these movies is the lack of content and originality.

So how are these movies different? This movie has something which 'Tyttö sinä olet tähti' was lacking and that is pseudo artistic sequences. For example the beginning sequence in the rain with the gramophone was very tasteless and mockery to true art. I think the director must divide all music in two categories, there's pop music and there's Mozart. Even though I hadn't my hopes very high before, after this sequence I was completely prepared for a bad movie. There's of course nothing bad about Mozart, but I despise the way the music was used here in this shot.

After this the movie goes completely wild. We jump forward in time. The boy is having troubles with society and with himself and he is sent to an island with troubled kids. These kids are supposed to be very disturbed because of their past. However there's no guards and no rules whatsoever. We have a family here in the same cabin with these disturbed boys and they are having fun there as if they were on a vacation. Soon after arriving the main character Juhani gets a golden shower from these boys and he's isolated as punishment in a dark hole like in some Van Damme movie, but he won't squeal on the other boys. After he gets out he's now suddenly friends with these rednecks and don't even consider a revenge.

There's a lot's of stupid stuff going around in the movie, most of which are these pseudo artistic sequences where Juhani's past is revealed in small parts. One thing bothering me a lot is that there's no attempt to give a character for Juhani's mother, she's just silent. This is why her motivation (at the end scene of these flashbacks) remains completely curtained and I didn't buy it for a second. It's just one of the sequences where the characters in this movie do unimaginable things just to progress the plot and make it seem more complete. The actions of the character is based on nothing and are added just for "shock" value as many other sequences in the movie.

More of these types of sequences can be found in many places. One of the most funniest parts was a sequence where the brute (the largest of the boys) hurts himself and has to take his shirt off. The wife (in the family) is taking care of him and notices his scars. She gets turned on when she hears about the sexual and physical abuse of which the brutes father is responsible for. After this they end up having sex and this unbelievable "side plot" of passion has an incredibly unbelievable ending as well which culminates in a weird way with the emotions of the main character to make the side plot seem somehow relevant to the main plot.

I'm not going to talk in detail how this movie was made. I didn't notice anything original in the directing or in the storyline. The story is actually just typical Finnish erotic drama with no content and the actors can't shine in this movie no matter how hard they would try. This goes into same series with 'Levottomat' and other such movies. I would feel sorry for the actors if I didn't know that they got money by acting in this movie.

For a decent new Finnish movie it's better to see 'Paha Maa' by Aku Louhimies. It wasn't an attempt to make superb realism, but it's certainly more entertaining and atmospheric compared to this one.

Details

Country:

Finland

Language:

Finnish

Release Date:

11 January 2008 (Finland)

Also Known As:

A fekete lepke háza

Filming Locations:

Turku, Finland

Box Office

Budget:

EUR1,600,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,406,016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mainostelevisio (MTV3), Solar Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1