Hulluna Saraan (2012) / crazy about Emilie

directed by Samuli Valkama / starring Emilie de Ravin, Jussi Nikkilä, Ville Virtanen

Vieläkö on villihevosiaaaa...

 

On aina hauska huomata että kyllä meiltä täältä kotimaastakin löytyy mainioita elokuvantekijöitä. Kyllähän se nyt tässä vaiheessa olisi varmaan pitänyt jo sisäistää, mutta jotenkin se vaan joka kerta yllättää ("Yllättävän hyvä suomalaiseksi leffaksi!" Kaikki ovat joskus joko kuulleet tai itse suustaan päästäneet tuon kommentin, am I right or am I right?) kun kotimainen onnistuu naurattamaan, viihdyttämään tai koskettamaan. Tai kaikkia kolmea, vähän niinkuin Hulluna Saraan! I enjoyed it a lot, for a Finnish film! (...) Tästä tulee varmaan kaksikielinen postaus, but isn't that only appropriate, since the film I'm discussing is bilingual, too.

Hulluna Saraan, or "crazy about Sara", or Love and Other Troubles, is a comedy about Finnish men, about unusual daddy issues, about love, about other troubles, and a little bit about clashing cultures, too. It brings the Australian Lost actress Emilie de Ravin to the streets of Turku and the fields of the Finnish country side, as an American girl who sweeps both the son and the father off their feet. Se toi mukanaan nostalgisia tuntemuksia muistuttaessaan että olipa kerran tv-ohjelma nimeltään Tenavatähti (olisin niin halunnut itse Seppo Hovin pikku cameo-rooliin!). It made me long for summer even more than I already do; because you know what they say about the Finnish summer... It's always worth the wait. It is what gets us through the rest of the year. Meaning, from August to June. Sigh. Anyways. We know it's worth it.

Tämä elokuva oli melkoinen piristysruiske! Hyvin ilahduttava ja sympaattinen, ja äänenkin sai naurahdella useamman kerran. Todellinen hyvänmielenelokuva, genressään melkoisen täydellinen. Feel-good, feel-good! I should watch more shameless, honest, guilt-free feel-good flicks! In fact, maybe I should watch ONLY such films! Because, you know, I feel good now! Earlier today I watched a distinctively Finnish, depressive kind of film, and I felt crappy. Now... I feel goooood! Simple as that.

The characters in this film were fun and likable, and they worked well together. The father/son relationship was of course the corner stone of it all, and it was very amusing to watch these two completely different personalities tear apart everything we thought we knew about the traditional roles of fathers and sons. It's hilarious, and the actors do a great job. Also, the Finnish language and the way of speaking can be used in such a comical way; the wonderful awkwardness and blunt expressions make great comedy!

Ja entäs meidän ihana ulkomaan vahvitus! Emilie is just adorable, cute as a button! And of course I very much appreciate her for coming to Finland and making this film! Two thumbs up, girl! I mean, she's worked in Hawaii and she's kissed Robert Pattinson, so saying yes to a weird little project like this...? Awesome, she's totally cool and extremely amazing in my book now. She was cool and amazing before, but now she's got the intensives too.

I'm always a sucker for stories about the Finnish culture clashing with another. It is both interesting and absolutely hilarious to look at Finland and the Finns from another culture's point of view; in this case, American. It makes it extra fun that you happen to be familiar with that other culture, too. (By the way, if you haven't yet, I very much recommend reading How to Marry a Finnish Girl by Phil Schwarzmann. He makes such spot-on comments and observations about this country, you can't help but laugh. And he gets pretty harsh, too. I actually kind of felt like moving away from this country after finishing the book, haha.) Finnish-ness in general is just very entertaining to discuss and analyze, we are such a peculiar group of people!

Lopuksi huomautettakoon, että Ebookers.fi:n mainos hollywoodilaisen taksin katolla oli aika hauska yksityiskohta. Jokseenkin hienovaraista piilomainontaa. Ja voi, se riemu kun tunnistaa valkokankaalla näkyvän paikan ja voi kertoa käyneensä siellä! Me Miinan kanssa vingahdettiin riemusta yhtä aikaa kun Roosevelt Hotel vilahti kuvassa. Ah ja voi.

Kautta Ronald Reaganin haamun, olipas ilahduttava elokuva. (Olisikohan tämä se ihmeidentekijä joka saa minut ostamaan suomalaisen leffan DVD:lle toista kertaa elämässäni? Menolippu Mombasaan on vähän yksinäinen hyllyssäni.)

Remember Me (2010) - living in the moments

directer by Allen Coulter / starring Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan

Remember Me is about two lovers, Tyler and Ally, their relationship to each other and their dysfunctional families. Both of their families are short of overshadowed by death: Tyler's brother killed himself and Ally's mother was shot in front of her when she was a little girl. These old wounds and sorrows control their lives as they try to stay close to each other.

The film was a lot grimmer and heavier than I expected.  It had lighter, funny, sweet moments too, but overall its tone was very dark. Like, you just knew there's no way it'd end well. But you wanted it to. The characters felt real and I grew quite fond of them.

Turns out Robert Pattinson can act, after all. Who knew. Luckily, there were no Edward Cullen mannerisms, except for only one brooding facial expression that thank god disappeared within the same second it appeared. (Also, R-Patz is much more good-looking as a non-sparkling human.) Two thoughts about Emilie de Ravin: 1) she's really too old to play a 21-year-old love interest of Pattinson, but actually they'd made her look quite young, somehow, and 2) I kind of missed her Australian accent - not once did she say "My beibeh!".

My favourite aspect of the film ended up being the relationship of Tyler and her 11-year-old sister, Caroline. She is really mature and witty without being one bit annoying, and yet it's clear she's still a little girl, who's hurt from being bullied at school and ignored by her father. Tyler is the most awesome big brother one could imagine - supportive, caring, protective, understanding. They share some great scenes, and I happily would've watched even more of those.

The ending is no doubt the most discussed aspect of the film (next to Pattinson, maybe). It sure took me by surprise. One could argue it's a bit far-fetched, but I think it's only very powerful and a fine ending for a film like this. It really made me gasp and shed a few tears, too. And I can only imagine how hard it must have hit certain people. I think it completed very effectively the story that from the beginning was pretty much all about loss and love and life after death.

"If you could hear me, I would say that our finger prints don't fade from the lives we've touched."