Elokuu (2011) Reviews

• A midsummer dream

  Tenate92011-09-10

  Elokuu, meaning 'August'... Is an engaging, gentle coming of age film. A lot of thought must have gone into the atmospheric cinematography ( From Mr.Joonas Pulkkanen ) of a blissful, near magical Scandinavian summer. As the fairly naive, contemplative middle class protagonist school leaver, 'Aku' explores his existential, more rebellious romantic self. The film begins with his long term girlfriend and family leaving him to his own devices - and after a friend tells him... 'that life is fleeting' And from the stresses of final exams - the City teenager starts to question his own choices and future career path and seemingly affluent parental lifestyle, that he will eventually mirror. On a road journey through the remote Finnish countryside with a mysterious, free spirited chance encounter. The film probably ends realistically, but fails to excite or escape it's bourgeois underpinnings or stereotypes - on either side of the camera. The films story arch becomes problematic and for me at least... far too melodramatic and drawn out in the final third. But still, Elokuu is an interesting and entertaining little film, from writer/director Mr.Oskari Sipola. Well worth a viewing.

• Terrible

  LoraceDem2013-07-14

  The main character is a sensitive young man unsure what to do with his last summer before entering university. What mars the film is the utter hate and lack of sympathy which the writer and director seem to have for him. Instead, we watch as he is put-down by his friends, and gets roped into an abusive relationship with a girl who disrespects his boundaries, his intelligence, and verbally abuses him at every turn. She doesn't understand him but tries to convince him and the audience that what he "needs" is to be led around by a leech who her uses her sexuality and stupidity to control him. And at the end, this is somehow viewed as "growth." If the situation were reversed, and an intelligent, sensitive, educated young woman was dragged around all summer by an abusive, cheating man this wouldn't be viewed as such a good thing. But no, this double standard suggests that there is nothing with abusing young men and trying to stick them into a box of a restrictive male gender role, laughing at their pain all the way. This reactionary message follows until the end, where he decides to pollute his body with a cigarette (cancer stick) just because his abusive girlfriend smoked them and thought she was so cool and people who don't smoke just need to "loosen up." The final scene in the film shows him trudging through the snow with his head shaven and a military uniform on--there is a choice to refuse conscription in Finland, but the culture (as epitomized by his abusive girlfriend) looks down upon males who don't do it. This film is one of the most disgusting things I've seen in a long time. Look elsewhere for a coming of age film that isn't so utterly condescending and hateful towards youth itself.