Change Your Image
leo-vesanen
Reviews
Sensuela (1973)
A psychedelic feminist statement
Calling this movie the worst in Finnish movie history is a serious misjudgment. Teuvo Tulio's final work was marred by financial troubles, but his story about an innocent Lapland girl turning prostitute is a feast of surreal plot, almost psychedelic colors and over-Brechtian amateur acting. There are some obvious cultural mistakes: for example, in the first scenes Laila, the Lapland girl, is actually wearing men's clothes. These mistakes, however, do not spoil the film as visually it is almost over-stylized.
Sometimes the movie has been called soft porn, but actually it conveys a direct feminist message and works as a critique of objectivation of women. At the same time Laila is shown as an active, not a passive, character. Tulio has also included some intertextual references to his earlier movies, creating a hybrid that constantly walks the line between art, irony and feminist commentary. It's a shame that lack of finances came in the way of Tulio's vision.
Hei, rillumarei! (1954)
A forgotten revolutionary masterpiece
In 'Hei rillumarei' the revolutionary desires of the masses are being repressed by the elitist art establishment. Functioning as outlets for the masses, the lumberjack and outsider characters played by Esa Pakarinen, Reino Helismaa and Erkki Ikäheimo respond to this repression with a burst of Nietzschean laughter, making the average elitist moviegoer feel uneasy in the process. At their best Pakarinen, Helismaa and Ikäheimo personify the uncontrolled subject later theorized by Antonio Negri. After its release the movie was heavily criticized by the arty movie press, which proves the effectiveness of Pakarinen's provocation. A movie for the hardcore Trotskyite.