terhitapiainen Reviews

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Disappointed in a complex way

[6/10 · 12 April 2024]

If some movies act as our mentors, make us imagine new and even beautiful ideas that you were not able to see yourself, Dune is not that movie. I did not feel more grounded or lighter than the air after the movie. Dune lacks joyful imagination.

Main theme is fanatism and religious fundamentalism as a normal and almost inevitable reaction to fascism. Yet, you do not win by fighting evil with evil (said by both Jesus and Jim Jefferies). Dune has a rather unsinspired way of presenting "fight evil with evil" universe as "inevitable".

In a symbolic story, or any good story, you need to have a contrast between good and bad. In mature art, the conflict is inside every person. In pop art, the conflict is between persons. In Dune, there is no internal conflict like in mature art but there is no pop-art type conflict either. The lack of dramatic conflict explains that the stellar cast was underused in the film.

Dune novel by Frank Herber may have been a clever and cautionary story at its own time. Inportant for the discussion which are the routes out after oppression and colonialism. I understand that Dune should primarily be read and watched as a warning.

The reason for my disappointment - disguised in anger - was that I feel that the world deserves hope. We do not need Messiah. We need hope and complex human interactions. We need enlightment. And Dune did not give us hope. And it certainly did not give us enlightment.

Hamsterit (2022)

Sometimes our obsessions save us from the reality

[6/10 · 17 January 2023]

The Finnish word for a hoarder is "hamsteri" explaining the main comedic plot of the film in the title. Most Finns have read the novel about the two unexpected friends who start to store and collect everything in excess - food, more food, alcohol, jams- to prepare for a winter of a lifetime. Finnish culture is orienteed towards preparing well in advance to ensure survival in difficult conditions.

The comedic angle is created by doing everything in excess - 100 m of rope for the laundry etc. In the original novel, I found this quite funny because we all recognize the feeling, because we all have the hidden minds and souls of devoted survivalists. The film, however, somehow fails to deliver this.

The script heavily emphasizes the dark and unspoken burden of the two main characters, Hamsteri and Rurik, in rural Finland in 1950's. Hamsteri is a lonely man who fills his solitude with day dreams about strong men in the Jack London kind of wilderness and obsessions about storing and preparing for the very, very cold winter. Rurik has some alarming mental problems, possibly he is traumatized by the Second World War, maybe sufferig from post traumatic stress disorder. This is never fully explained in the film which creates a dark undertone.

Hamsteri is an interesting character played very well by excellent Peter Franzen. Rurik in contrast is a depressing character lacking any comedic relief. The best scenes are the interaction between Hamsteri and the youngest of Rurik's children, a small girl named Raisa. They share a true and innocent human connection.

This film is not a great comedy. The main feeling after the movie was pure and sincere gratitude that I do not live in the post-war Finland in the 1950's. The angst and the unspoken wounds were too evident.

The last scene with Hamsteri is very powerful and moving. This makes the movie worth watching depite it flaws. Sometimes our obsessions save us from the harsh reality. It was the clearest and most powerful message of the film. Kudos for Peter Franzen, the director, and the screenwriters for that!

X (II) (2022)

Bold and stylish horror movie

[9/10 · 27 March 2022]

This film is as gross and weird as many reviewers have explained. I loved it. The film has a bold and strong style, even Tarantino-like clearness surrounded the gore-fest. The film has interesting theme behind the obvious horror scenes within porn movie set in a farm: Is there anything more horrifying than getting old? Mia Goth is excellent in the leading role(s).

The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Modern Nordic masterpiece

[10/10 · 20 March 2022]

The film starts as a conventional film about the messy life of twenty-somethings and the choices they should but cannot make. In the beginning, the tone of the film is nonchalant and the protagonist seems to be annoyingly self-centered. The script is, however, much smarter than this, and in the end, I was gasping air, because the movie was so poignant, clear, and wise. The character development of the main character is interesting and sincere. Renate Reinsve is perfect in the leading role but Anders Danielesen Lie creates the emotional core of the film. This deeply moving film is one of the best descriptions of love -and its many faces- that I have seen in recent years.

Hatching (2022)

Ambitious and intellectual Finnish horror movie

[5/10 · 6 March 2022]

This horror movie was interesting, ambitious and smart.

The basic idea of a young girls's struggle to have acceptance and love from her demanding mother was extremely well made. The leading actress, young Siiri Solalinna does a perfect job. There is something really sinister in the suburb of white immaculate houses surrounded by a dark Finnish forest.

The movie is quite intellectual which makes the film to be rather unattached from the emotional side of the audience. I mean that I did not really care on emotional level what happens but was curious about the plot development the whole time. Accordingly, the ending is satisfactory on intellectual level but not on emotional level.

This is one of the first high-quality horror movies ever made in Finland. I was quite delighted about the freshness of the film. I hope that this is a good start for others to follow. It is always interesting when something new emerges in the film scene here. Kudos to the whole team who made this nice horror film!

The Batman (2022)

Beautiful and poetic but slow

[6/10 · 6 March 2022]

This version of Batman franchise is extremely beautiful, melancholic, and even poetic. Both lead actors and the cinematography are flawless. The soundtrack is simple but effective. The murder plot is dark and rather interesting.

The movie feels like a three-hour dream with beautiful rain in sad and gloomy Gotham. The main problem for me was the pace which was extremely slow. The melancholic feeling was monotonic and there was no character development. In this version, Batman is so traumatized that he is somehow too numb to want anything and that makes him a bit uninteresting.

I definitely recommend this beautiful film but I would warn that this is an ambitious take which is not pure fast-pace entertainment. I must admit that I even fell asleep a couple of times which usually does not happen to me.

Bergman Island (2021)

Beautiful film about the creative process and inner life

[9/10 · 20 February 2022]

Bergman Island is a beautiful story about the creativity and strong inner life of artists.

My review is likey biased towards favorable one because most clever and abundant references were so familiar to me, not only Ingmar Bergman's films and his biography (recommend Laterna magica to everybody), but also the soundtrack including the hymns of Lutheran church, the recurring theme of Vem kan segla förutan vind and naturally one of the key songs Abba's Winner takes it all. All these elements strongly resonated within me together with the beautiful but a bit harsh island of Fårö connected with a ferry to the outer world.

This was an extremely beautiful film about the creative process and strong inner life of artists. Its focus was what is lurking under the surface which may be only expressed in the art. Here, the theme is the severe longing of fulfillment, in love but also in the film making. The longing of complete connection, warmth and acceptance.

I loved the choice of using a triple-layer structure, the meta-layers were convincing and emotional. Mia Wasikowska's performance was perfect as always. I also admired Tim Roth's subtle performance which created the needed background for the inner struggle of the main protagonist and the artist in the film, played by Vicky Krieps.

The paradox is that the lack of absolute love and connection often drives the artistic process and you need to embrace it while writing and directing. Yet, you need to come back to the imperfect but real world after the process. This may be exhausting. This films describes this perfectly.

I would recommend this film to all cinemaphiles, in particular to those with an earlier interest in Ingmar Bergman's work and life. The movies's tempo is rather slow and the layered structure may be a bit demanding for a wider film audience. This film also gives a valuable view on the women in the film industry as creative artists themselves and not only as muses and lovers of famous directors.

Parasite (2019)

Overrated and boring

[4/10 · 24 February 2020]

This movie has one excellent idea and one clever twist. Cinematography was great and the overall setting ambitious. Yet, it seems quite overrated. Attempted allegory about capitalism is rather obvious. The movie lacks true emotions and feels forced. There is no character development or subtle interactions between characters. I felt disconnected with the main characters which made the movie boring despite the plot-driven concept.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

Possibly the best Tarantino so far

[10/10 · 6 January 2020]

The script is perfect. It cleverly uses the unpleasant threat of the Manson family, the overall strange and mystic feeling of L.A. living in their cars, and the three main characters: one describing the fear and anxiety we all have, one presenting the idealized and brave masculinity we wish to have, and one presenting the love for the art and the beauty of old Hollywood.

LDC, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie all do a wonderful job, but Brad Pitt's performance is perfect. There are few scenes that are visually so perfect and intense that you will remember them for years.

I went to the cinema with my teenage children and their friends. Some of them were totally confused and bored, and I cannot blame them: the movie is complex, clever and based on the knowledge of Hollywood history, that it was totally beyond their understanding.

Most reviews explain that the main theme of the film is friendship which naturally is true. The deeper theme is the love for the film as an art form and the anxious pain of artists seeking acceptance. The film shows this in a visually amazing way, with a perfect rhythm and a perfect cast.

For me, this was pure art. It answered questions that I did not know I had until the movie answered them. And one additional note; this is a perfect movie to explain the concept of Chekhov's gun for those young movie goers who were not familiar with the concept before.

The film community has warmly accepted Tarantino which is presented in a beautiful way in the end.

The Unknown Soldier (2017)

How to endure the war and defeat

[7/10 · 29 October 2017]

In Finland, we have a tradition to tell the story of WW2 as we actually almost won the war against the Soviet Union which is of course true in the sense that Finland was not occupied by the Soviet Union. After the painful war, the Unknown Soldier was a novel that was appreciated therapy for the wounded nation and it introduced dozens of catch phrases and iconic characters that were needed for the healing process. Every Finn can quote the book, often in a cheerful manner. Ask any Finn in the late hours in the bar and they will keep going forever.

The novel has been filmed twice before but the present version is the best and the most ambitious. Here, in the modernized version of the Unknown Soldier, the war between Finland and the Soviet Union is brutal, exhausting and devastating, and definitely Finland does not almost win the war. The humor used by the characters is a coping mechanism and is not used as a national therapy.

We see a beautiful and melancholic film that is very sincere. Finland fights side by side with Germany which may have been necessary to fight the Soviet Union, but usually the fact is hidden beneath Finnish pride of independence. Now, we see Hitler visiting Finland, we see Nazi flags.

We see how men are gradually broken. The heroes die, and in the end, the most unlikely characters still need to fight. The four main characters, Koskela, Rokka, Kariluoto and Hietanen are all played very well by leading Finnish actors. I was especially moved by Koskela played by Jussi Vatanen, who reminds me of Damian Lewis as Richard Winters in Band of Brothers. However, Rokka played by Eero Aho is the center and the heart of the movie. The opening scene with two swimming boys, filmed like in a Terence Malick movie, is the starting point for the story of Rokka who is brave, keeps the good spirit, encourages and teaches younger ones. In the end, he shows in one last scene how the defeat feels after several years of fighting. He endures but is not anymore the same cheerful happy farmer. Eero Aho tells the story of losing the war in a superb way. He should definitely be nominated for Jussi, the Finnish Oscar.

The film is a bit long and has some scenes like the compulsory "Finns getting really drunk" scenes that I always found rather boring. However, the film is so much better than the original war novel. My Finnish teacher tried to explain the idea of the original novel in the 80's: You will first get to know all the main characters, you really start to like them, and then, suddenly, one by one they are taken away from you. Now, in this film, I finally understood what my literature teacher wanted to make us to see in the Unknown Soldier novel.

In Finland, the reviews of the film have been really polarized, which reflects the unique importance of the Unknown Soldier for Finns. It is the story of endurance and suffering. This is not as good as TV series Band of Brothers, not as good as Unsere Mutter Unsere Väter (Generation War) or Saving Private Ryan. However, this is a solid war film using Finnish perspective and with two amazing actors in main roles, Jussi Vatanen and Eero Aho.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the independent Finland. The film is humble but strong, like the story of Finland, as I like to see it. My rating 7/10 aims to be objective but as a Finn, the objective rating of the Unknown Soldier is impossible. Yet, I recommend the film for everybody who aims to understand Finnish history and the way we see the world.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Energetic, fast and smart

[8/10 · 14 May 2017]

I really enjoyed the energy of the movie and its clever and fast editing. The story is familiar to most of us but this version was fresh and smart. Guy Ritchie has developed his own unique and recognizable style which is admirable. In particular, the style of this movie is pure and clear. This movie is not about the clever plot or character development but about the strong and talented flow. The movie is not too serious and does not aim to be deep. This is a summer action movie with a nice personal touch and excellent editing.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Scare jumps and dystopic atmosphere

[6/10 · 11 May 2017]

Original Alien was a beautiful, lingering slow pace horror film among working crew with an unusual female hero and survivor. The theme of violent alien births was unique and terrifying. The monster was the best alien monster ever. We have all these elements here in Covenant film. The film actually works quite well because sometimes it is nice to eat pop corn and get regular jump scares. It is oddly satisfying to see the familiar elements of a teenage horror movie plot: no, no, don't go there alone! The best familiar elements of Alien work well: so clever and diverse xenophorm and tons of blood. The new aspect in this film is its dystopic atmosphere which is very dark and deep. However, because I had already decided that this is a pop corn movie with jump scares, the sudden depth and darkness seemed like there were two movies that were combined into one unsatisfying mixture. My pop corns were not well suited for the last part of the movie. I loved the acting of the all remaining characters, you know who when you get there. I would have hoped that the recycling of Alien theme would have been more like a classic horror film and less like a pseudointellectual and pseudophilosophical science fiction with unsatisfying feeling.

Life (I) (2017)

Generic alien horror film

[3/10 · 26 March 2017]

I enjoyed the authentic feeling of ISS and the first 30 minutes of the film. The lack of gravity was beautifully shown and the cast was talented. The beginning was very promising. Spoilers ahead...The film was a strange mixture of science fiction and horror in a very unsatisfying way. Incompetent astronauts were fighting the huge threat and made an endless series of crucial mistakes. At first it is interesting that the new life form is extremely difficult to kill but soon it is just boring, in particular due to over emotional and illogical astronauts. The ending was aiming to be fresh but did not convince me. In a horror film, the capsules would have been other way round, so I guess the director decided that this was an intellectual science fiction film, despite the incompetent astronauts, after all, but it was a bit late for that.

La La Land (2016)

Jazz is full of contrasts and surprises like this movie

[8/10 · 22 January 2017]

I regard myself as a musical sceptic. I have never understood the old school Hollywood musicals. In the wonderful opening sequence on the jammed highway, I first thought that I am really going to hate this,no, no, no, please stay inside the cars like the normal people. And then, magic! The movie totally won me over. To be honest, there were slow moments and the quick changes between styles got me a bit confused in the beginning. I had time to think that maybe they should have hired Justin Timberlake because he can sing and dance and why Ryan Gosling's hair is greasy. But don't worry, Ryan Gosling is perfect for the role. In the end, you will agree. I loved the careful details such as the huge poster of Ingrid Bergman and the references to Casablanca, the greatest and saddest love story of all time. Music score was absolutely great. What makes this movie greater than a basic feel good movie, is that the love story and the main characters' development and ambitions are more important than their immediate feelings. Young people were happy and laughing when the movie ended whereas I cried melancholic but sweet tears. This was a beautiful and surprising movie that had one of the greatest endings since Casablanca. I warmly recommend the movie for all movie lovers, including notorious musical sceptics.

Jackie (V) (2016)

Surprisingly boring and cold

[4/10 · 10 January 2017]

We went to the theater expecting interesting but sad biopic of an enigmatic woman. Well... my husband and at least a couple of other men in the theater fell asleep, at least when the noisy and creepy score did not keep them awake. It is difficult to tell what explains the discrepancy of the overall positive reviews and our clearly disappointing experience. We felt that the reason why the story was told was not clear to the writers and director. It is difficult to understand how the movie was so boring when everything you read about the Kennedys is interesting. Natalie Portman really tried to be convincing but the acting was forced and you could smell the hours of training. The accent of Jackie Kennedy was really weird even though it tried to resemble the original way of her talking. I overheard one couple discussing when we walked back to the parking lot:" It was rather static. - Yes, and psychotic." I am not sure if they understood the meaning of the words but weirdly it made sense. Overall the photography and costumes were beautiful and all other actors were convincing. In conclusion, the lack of connection with the viewers was evident despite the overall high quality.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Never tell me the odds

[9/10 · 26 December 2016]

This review contains indirect spoilers. I felt empty and old after seeing this movie. It made me miss my childhood and the days when "Never tell me the odds" was a fantastic and funny line because we all knew that Han Solo is our loved one and you do not kill your loved ones in Star Wars movies which are essentially old school adventure films in space. In old adventures movies, the old men could die, as they chose to sacrifice themselves for greater good. In real wars, young boys and girls are sent to death, but not in adventure movies, not in Star Wars. Rogue One is a huge violation against the genre of Star Wars. It is a dull, boring, poorly written, not funny, cruel, cynical, calculated movie. It lacks all hope which is ironic. Rogue One makes me even miss Jar Jars Binks; that awful creature really got me to feel something but Rogue One left me totally untouched except the final shot on the beach. I hope that I am just an old fool who does not understand modern cinema because I sincerely thought that the production team had really lost it. The magic had gone even though they were really trying their best. I liked Force Awakens, loved the original trilogy but Rogue One was a huge disappointment due to its cynical darkness.

Passengers (I) (2016)

Existentialism in space

[9/10 · 26 December 2016]

The movie has received rather poor professional reviews which claim that the concept is superficial and the romance misogynistic. For me, the movie was excellent study on what makes us human; the social relationships or the idea of right and wrong. It is about the choices we make when forced into an absurd and profoundly hopeless situation. It is about the fear of death,both the fear of empty and meaningless life and the fear of immediate death. Of course there is a romance plot, but for me, the movie had a strange existentialist feeling that touched me deeply. The movie is highly underrated as most reviewers see it as a shallow and strange "date movie". The movie is shot in a beautiful and breathtaking way, the actors were excellent and the slow pace is justified: It gives you time to think. What would you do in the situation? What would be your choice? I recommend this philosophical movie disguised as a romance for everybody who are ready to challenge the opinion of professional reviewers.