Mother of Mine

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Klaus Härö's Mother of Mine (2005) touches on a subject which is rarely discussed nowadays (even in Finland): during World War II tens of thousands of Finnish children were sent to Sweden to avoid the conflict by living with a surrogate family. In Härö's film, a 9-year-old boy's mother sends him to Sweden after his father dies. Initially he hates the surrogate the members of which are just as broken and vulnerable as he is. Eventually their wounds begin to heal and they bond.

The screenplay is magnificent because it handles the subject and characters thoroughly and honestly. Problems concerning coming of age, language and family are explored and observed in an unforgettably poignant way. The screenplay is simply top-notch in all aspects. Härö's form is stunning yet again - especially his cinematography is simply impeccable. The only gripe I had with this film is rather minor: the last 20 minutes had a few weird formal choices that could have been done better. However, that is still a really tiny problem in a fantastic film.

Klaus Härö's Mother of Mine is Finnish (albeit a co-production with Swedes) cinema at its best. Forget Kaurismäki: it doesn't get a lot better than this.

Score: 10 out of 10

Elina: As If I Didn't Exist

The Finnish director Klaus Härö has recently reached international fame with his film Letters to Father Jaakob (2009). I decided to watch his entire filmography and started from the debut, Elina: As If I Didn't Exist (2002) which I had seen once as a kid. It is the story of a Finnish girl who has problems with her strict teacher (played by Bibi Andersson, by the way) and coming to terms with the death of her father. The film shoots questions concering old-fashioned education, bilingual problems and coming of age. Klaus Härö makes most of the short running time (80 minutes). He creates truly wonderful characters and sucks the viewer effortlessly into his world.

Härö's storytelling and editing rely on basic tricks, but he uses them in the best possible way. While these aspects are rather ordinary, his cinematography is breathtaking by any standards. I was flabbergasted at the colors and compositions in pretty much every scene. The way the swamps and the school are portrayed is impeccable.

Elina: As If I Didn't Exist is one heck of a debut for any filmmaker. All of its aspects work well and Härö is able to make the film a truly emotional experience without falling for over-the-top sentimentality.

Score: 9 out of 10

Bad Guy

Kim Ki-duk's fans often describe his film, Bad Guy (2001), worse than most of his other films. I was surprised because the film is actually an effort more solid than Address Unknown (2001) and The Isle (2000). The film tells about a young woman who is forced to become a prostitute. The English title is a bit weird and I prefer the Finnish translation which literally means "The Pimp".

Despite the weak beginning and overwrought melodrama, the film's writing is quite decent. This time Kim finds truly poetic and beautiful moments in the harsh world. However, the film is quite uneven because there are scenes that stand out as brilliant and then there are scenes that are so utterly failed. The characters are decent enough to not distract me while watching the film - which can not be said of The Isle. The central relationship is explored in a peculiar yet successful way and the final result is intriguing.

Kim's form has become completely refined by now. His use of alienation through compositions is perfect and framing is magnificent in other ways as well. Music is nearly nonexistent apart from two songs which are used well.

Ultimately, Bad Guy is the first sign of true sophistication in Kim's films before he made 3-Iron (2003) and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (2004).

Score: 7 of 10

Address Unknown

Kim Ki-duk's Address Unknown (2001) takes place in a small Korean village near an American army base. The film is very similar to Kim's earlier production which focuses on ultraviolent, aggressive and narcissistic characters who are raped, tortured, sent to jail or killed by the end of the film. This time Kim has such a promising cast of characters to be used and an actually clever plot in his hands because this time his writing isn't so blind and one-sided. The characters are well developed and colorful - at first.

The problem is that Kim so utterly fails to use them and the film's final third is an embarrassing climax that couldn't have possibly been worse. The outcomes of the different storylines are portrayed in a confusing and dragging way. Initially the film promises interesting points of view on the American occupation and how all the characters are related to it, but the touchy subject is handled poorly - apart from one exception.

This time Kim's form isn't as refined as it is in his other films. Sometimes the editing works well - sometimes NOT. The cinematography is unfocused and a bit too carefree - his compositions simply don't get to the level of quality of his other films. The music is a bit irritating as well - the most offending moments are when Erik Satie's Gymnopedie is used TERRIBLY. That is unacceptable.

Ultimately, the film's first half is promising and somewhat good, but eventually it veers into a catastrophical failure.

Score: 5 out of 10

The Isle

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I have a love-hate relationship with Kim Ki-duk's films. Some of his efforts rely too much on shock value and obscure characters, but his refined movies like 3-Iron can be very rewarding. The Isle (2000) belongs to the former category. It is a story of a mute woman who is the hostess of a fishing resort.

Kim's screenplay fails quite miserably. He writes like a naive cynic: each and every character is a dumb narcissist. Beyond that, there are only two clear distinctions: you are either whiny or violent and sadistic. The film stumbles because it tries to be alienating and involving at the same time. Relying on shock value - through abusing animals and using fish hooks in a painful way - is cheap and Kim never gets anything worthwhile out of them. There's also a wishy-washy take on obsessive and destructive love.

However, the form is intriguing. Kim creates a strong contrast by shooting the brutal scenes in a graceful, poetic way. His cinematography is haunting and delicate. His editing is also rather interesting, for example the pacing is so perfect. There's also the subtle musical score that was a bit underused but effective.

Kim Ki-duk's The Isle is an interesting film for the fans of the director, but it is far too manipulative and flimsy to be considered something more than mediocre.

Score: 5 out of 10

Kamikaze Girls

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Tetsuya Nakashima's Kamikaze Girls (2004) is even crazier than the vague title suggests: the story focuses on Momoko (played by Kyoko Fukada) is a girl obsessed with Lolita fashion and Rococo. She lives with her "useless" (as she describes him herself) father and totally bonkers grandmother. Eventually she meets and becomes friends with Anna Tsuchiya's Ichigo who is a true yanki girl: blunt, violent and rebellious.

Let's face it, the idea of putting a yanki and a lolita together is absurd - and the film makes the most of it while it maintains its farcical and metafictional phase. However, at some point the film begins to take itself seriously and simply falls flat because there is simply no way it could possibly work. Luckily the climax is funny, though. I appreciate the film's pure spontaneity and wild humor so greatly that I have to admit I enjoyed watching the film. It's a shame Nakashima changed the tone of the film in the later half because it makes the characters frustratingly pseudo-complex instead of being great comic relief.

The film's form is sadly messy: while its costume design and cinematography provide a lot to the silly atmosphere, the form becomes too formless in the end and it's only baffling. The editing is erratic in a way that doesn't really fit to the content. It is overstylized without a formal focus.

Kamikaze Girls is a funny but shamefully unbalanced and a bit flimsy film. It's worth watching if you're looking for the absurdities of contemporary Japanese cinema or if you simply want to laugh - a lot. Just be prepared for the change of tone.

Score: 5 out of 10

The Idiot

Before I get to my actual review I will attempt to clear up a few things. I'm a huge fan of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Akira Kurosawa is probably my favorite director of all time. It shouldn't come to you as a surprise that I appreciated Kurosawa's adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Idiot a lot. However, the film is possibly a bit hard to understand for those who have not read the original novel because the studio butchered the film by removing significant portions of the cut that is the only surviving cut to date. Originally Kurosawa spent a lot of time and effort on creating a perfect rhythm for the film and that cut was a bit over 4 hours long. The studio, Shochiku, told Kurosawa to cut it shorter. After a bunch of cuts and arguments, the studio itself simply butchered most of the first third of the film. The result is disastrous because the narrative is so messed up in the final version. However, more than a half of the film was left intact as it was and I can still savour those scenes even though a lot of needed development was cut from the beginning. Kurosawa had created a complex beginning for the film - which not only established a lot of side characters that were eventually cut from the film, but also set the mood for the film.

Akira Kurosawa's The Idiot (1951) is the story of a purely good man who becomes the target of ridicule in snowbound Hokkaido. Dostoevsky's original novel took place in Russia of the 1860's, but Kurosawa brilliantly changes the setting to the post-war Hokkaido. Due to the change of milieu there are a few details about the story that have been changed - such as the philosophical and religious ideas that were present throughout the novel. A lot of motifs and symbols from the novel are smoothly transferred to the film while Kurosawa adds his own touch on top of them. Even though the beginning of the film was butchered, Kurosawa still manages to explore the main characters properly enough and shows us just how conflicted, vulnerable and fascinating they are. 

Kurosawa's form is intimate, powerful and clever in The Idiot. His compositions are beautiful and poignant - lots of interesting visual motifs can be discovered. Like I've mentioned before, Kurosawa is masterful when it comes to placing characters in each composition. The camera movement is graceful and wonderful. After the initial shock the editing becomes decent too - especially after the first hour because that is where the film was left untouched by the studio.

The film's biggest strength is the cast - each and every one make a brilliant performance. Masayuki Mori's Kameda is probably the best Myshkin (the character's original name) we will ever witness in cinema. His body language and line delivery are pitch perfect. However, his performance doesn't dominate the film even though it could do that in a lot of other films. Toshiro Mifune's repressed yet aggressive performance is haunting. Setsuko Hara's noble and dramatic portrayal of Nasu Taeko caught me off-guard by its magnificence. Yoshiko Kuga's Ayako embodies exactly what I thought about the character in the original novel.

I have to admit that my appreciation for the film is quite personal and the film is quite open for attacks due to its narrational incoherence.

Score: 10 out of 10