This movie is pretty promising at the start. For a Finnish movie, it uses a rather original cinematography and storytelling. Two teenagers get to know each other and decide to run away from the system that wants to oppress them both. OK, nothing very original, but a fair start. You even get hints of subtle symbolism.
...and then it hits you. The symbolism is anything but subtle. It's the only purpose of the movie. Who cares about telling a story, who cares about character development, who cares about anything at all but symbols after symbols after symbols, non stop for the entire length of the movie?
Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with full blown symbolism if you know how to do it, if you know how to actually tickle the viewer's brain with something he or she can at some level understand, but then again, not quite. David Lynch is the master of this school, his movies make you think what actually happened, and even if you come to a conclusion, it's never THE conclusion.
Well, not here. There is nothing to interpret in the symbolism. It's so painfully obvious what the director wants to say that you feel like yelling at the screen for him to just tell a straight story without all this shallow symbolism. Want an example? Masked gunmen lock the protagonists in cages, urinate on them and perform all sorts of other oppressive and violent acts on their helpless victims. Gee, I wonder what that means. Maybe something with faceless society using violence to entrap the free spirits and force them to its will or something?
And therein lies the problem. This movie is a marathon of symbols you don't need to even try to interpret, because they're basically self explanatory, making them in effect not symbols, but Artsy Bullshit. And that does not make a good movie. 3/10 for decent effort though.
...and then it hits you. The symbolism is anything but subtle. It's the only purpose of the movie. Who cares about telling a story, who cares about character development, who cares about anything at all but symbols after symbols after symbols, non stop for the entire length of the movie?
Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with full blown symbolism if you know how to do it, if you know how to actually tickle the viewer's brain with something he or she can at some level understand, but then again, not quite. David Lynch is the master of this school, his movies make you think what actually happened, and even if you come to a conclusion, it's never THE conclusion.
Well, not here. There is nothing to interpret in the symbolism. It's so painfully obvious what the director wants to say that you feel like yelling at the screen for him to just tell a straight story without all this shallow symbolism. Want an example? Masked gunmen lock the protagonists in cages, urinate on them and perform all sorts of other oppressive and violent acts on their helpless victims. Gee, I wonder what that means. Maybe something with faceless society using violence to entrap the free spirits and force them to its will or something?
And therein lies the problem. This movie is a marathon of symbols you don't need to even try to interpret, because they're basically self explanatory, making them in effect not symbols, but Artsy Bullshit. And that does not make a good movie. 3/10 for decent effort though.
