Kari Franck
2021
Manillaköysi
Veli-Matti Saikkonen
Erkki Pajala, Vesa Mäkelä
Manillaköysi is a cult status holding TV-movie adaptation of the satirical war novel by Veijo Meri. Manillaköysi has an endless list of classic one-liners, but it is still not based on cheap laughs or anything like that. The whole humouristic aspect of it comes from describing the absurdity of war, and the whole military system, by looking it with the eyes of a simple man, who's thrown into it, and who simply does not give a rats ass of it all. The tone of it is not overly preachy or moralizing. If I would have to describe it with one word, it would be: unglamourizing. The main point of Manillaköysi is pretty much compressed in one of the most famous quotes of it: There is nothing supernatural about war, it is just work like anything else.
The Manila Rope
Onnellinen mies
Hannu Kahakorpi
Harri Tirkkonen, Liisamaija Laaksonen
Bridge engineer Akseli Jaatinen arrives to stir up the lives of the inhabitants of a small Finnish village. Jaatinen is well-liked at the bridge construction site, but he quickly finds himself clashing against the local decision-makers. The bridge engineer is also popular with the ladies and, being a man of energy, he manages to take care of several of his admirers at once.
Onnellinen mies
Tulipää
Pirjo Honkasalo, Pekka Lehto
Asko Sarkola, Rea Mauranen
This biographical film celebrates the little-known life of the Finnish novelist and revolutionary Maiju Lassila (Asko Sarkola), born in 1868. Lassila's early years are briefly shown, then the film richly details his active and paradoxically reclusive adult life, beginning with his sojourn in St. Petersburg, working as a businessman. Unable to stay away from politics, he caused the assassination of a high-ranking Czarist and as a result, had to run back to Finland to hide. Once established in the comparative safety of a small village, he taught school in order to support his real vocation as a writer. Always living on the edge of poverty, if not square in the middle of it, Lassila continues to avoid public contact - he keeps his identity low-key and camoflages it by publishing under a variety of pseudonyms.
Flame Top
V. Y. Vihdoinkin yhdessä
Kari Kyrönseppä
Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Sarianna Salminen
Hese, the shy owner of a video company, travels on a moped to film a commissioned Christmas party. From the steps of his office, Hese finds an anonymous Christmas present, a Hese slipover, and begins to find out who it is from.
V. Y. Vihdoinkin yhdessä
Kuningas jolla ei ollut sydäntä
Päivi Hartzell, Liisa Helminen
Aino Seppo, Kari Franck
The King Without a Heart is a fairytale about of a happy king who has a young daughter and a lovely wife. After the sudden death of his wife, the king becomes so sad that he wants his heart taken out of his chest. The kingdom is turned into an effective society based on reason, and there is no longer place for emotions. When she grows up, the princess tries to make her father see the importance of play and emotions.
Kuningas jolla ei ollut sydäntä
Federicon kuolema
Tuija-Maija Niskanen
Jouko Turkka, Kaisa Korhonen
Spanish poet Federico García Lorca is condemned to death by Captain Nestares after an absurd interrogation that serves to make it clear to the people that the Spanish Civil War is a war of ideas, and that there is no place for individuals like Lorca in Spain.
The Death of Federico
