Ristumine peateega (1999) User Reviews

But is this a fairy story?

[Dierdre99 · 6/10 · 6 February 2002]

An unusual but hard-to-find film. Laura and Roland hitch-hiking but soaked by the rain intrude into a nearby farm house. Osvald who lives there behaves very oddly, and offers accommodation to Laura only - Roland must leave. Surprisingly they accept these terms. When Roland comes back, Osvald offers to buy Laura, and offers US$billion - a totally fabulous amount so large that resistance crumbles. Laura is certainly for the deal. Are we to accept the given account - that the money was a gift from a magical fish that Osvald let go? Certainly the money is there in gigantic boxes. But is this a fairy story, or some other kind?

However reality will waver. The ending redoes the story as if it were by David Lynch. Intriguing.

1000 times better than Indecent Proposal

[letsrock77 · 8/10 · 10 March 2003]

Despite the simple plot and the low-budget style the film has a remarkable depth, and makes you think about questions like "What would I do for $1.000.000.000?" or "What is the most important thing in life?". For me the film is about the changing of personality when assuming different roles in life. It is also has a "reality meets fairy tale" feeling, which makes it possible to view the movie from different angles. It is also fun to watch how people react to weird situations.

The characters are fairly complex and all of them switch several times during the movie. Osvald for example goes from a woody local fisherman to a person of ultimate power and back in the blink of an eye. The simple and average-looking couple also shows exceptional behaviour when exposed to $1 billion, like aggression or forgetting about all the basic values in life, such as love and dignity.

There is no moaning and pondering about the girl and the money, and morality comes only in the form of remorse after accepting the hm... decent proposal.

The filming and casting is also just decent, but fits very well into the real-life environment of the film that well-known stars would inevitably destroy. If you have an hour free, watch this movie... It is worth missing your favorite soap :)

For the idea and the funny conversations I give the film 9/10.

Utterly contrived dialogue, but some redeeming qualities

[nihilistening · 5/10 · 5 April 2009]

The problem with movies that are based on plays like "Ristumine peateega" is that the (screen)writer has failed to make the changes necessary for a stage-to-screen adaptation, so the dialogue seems rather ridiculous. It's the same with acting – so few films are made in Estonia that by the time the actors finally manage to get in front of a camera, they still act as if they're in front of a live audience, where everything needs to be enunciated to the nth degree for the cheap rows in the back.

I did like the blending of modern day drama with an age old fairy tale about a gold fish who makes your wishes come true, but that was pretty much ruined by inserting a faux mobster into the story as the contemporary version of the magical fish. Also, just because you have some magical elements in your plot, doesn't mean the rest of it should be completely detached from reality. Why in the world would Roland and Laura be so quickly convinced that the strange weirdo (Osvald) is to be trusted and she should stay the night? That part seemed rushed to me, they should've devoted more time to how Osvald earns their trust.

All in all, an interesting experiment of a movie, but not an entirely successful one. Luckily, it seems that Jaan Tätte's plays fare better when they're adapted for the screen by someone else, since I quite enjoyed Meeletu (2006), which was also based on one of Tätte's plays, but directed and rewritten for the screen by Elmo Nüganen.