A father-and-son road trip morphs into a musical journey examining the fraught history of Finnish immigration in Sweden in the modest but touching docu "Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart."
With: Kai Latvalehto, Tauno Latvalehto, Oiva Latvalehto.
(Finnish, Swedish dialogue)
A father-and-son road trip morphs into a musical journey examining the fraught history of Finnish immigration in Sweden in the modest but touching docu “Finnish Blood, SwedishHeart.” The best film yet from helmer Mika Ronkainen (“Screaming Men,” “Freetime Machos”), the pic uses vintage songs to delve into distressing memories shared by many Swedish Finns, involving shame, guilt, crime and alcoholism. With its playful form and emotional content, this deserving winner of Gothenburg’s Nordic docu prize should appeal to the international auds that enjoyed Finnish sauna pic “Steam of Life.”
Fortyish musician Kai Latvalehto, founder of the now-defunct band Aknestik, has an adorable son and a happy marriage, but still feels rootless. Perhaps his feeling stems from a childhood spent in Sweden, after which he returned to Finland as a teen. As taciturn Latvalehto and his dad, Tauno, drive from Oulu, Finland, to their former home in Gothenburg, their painfully honest conversations are punctuated by songs written in the 1970s by first-generation Finnish immigrants to Sweden ; these are performed live, in sprightly stagings, by second-generation Swedish-Finnish musicians. Tech credits are fine; appealing musical performances deserve a soundtrack album.
Popular on Variety
Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart
Documentary - Finland-Sweden-Norway-France
Production:
A Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus release (in Finland) of a Klaffi Film prods., Hysteria Film production with the support of Swedish Film Institute, SVT, YLE, Finnish Film Foundation, AVEK, ESEK, Nordic Film & TV Fund, Arte Geie. (International sales: Klaffi Film, Helsinki.) Produced by Ulla Simonen. Executive producers, Mika Ronkainen, Kimmo Paananen. Co-producer, Antonio Russo Merenda. Directed, written by Mika Ronkainen.
Crew:
Camera (HD color), Vesa Taipaleenmaki; editor, Asa Mossberg; music, Anna Jarvinen, Darya Pakarinen, Love Antell, Markus Fagervall, Mirella Hautala, Manskensorkestern, Hannu Kiviaho, Heikki Kiviaho, Harri Manty, Jukka Takalo; sound (5.1 Dolby Digital), Janne Huotari, Juha-Pekka Leppaluto; sound designer, Esa Nissi. Running time: 90 MIN. Reviewed at Gothenburg Film Festival (competing), Feb. 3, 2013.
Cast:
With: Kai Latvalehto, Tauno Latvalehto, Oiva Latvalehto.
(Finnish, Swedish dialogue)
Mariah Carey and Tracee Ellis Ross embraced their “ish” at Tuesday night’s series premiere event for ABC’s “Mixed-ish” by reflecting on how their biracial identity makes working on the new show even more personal. “I’m just so thankful that this show exists,” Carey told the assembled crowd during a Q&A with series creator Kenya Barris. [...]
At the 44th annual Toronto Film Festival last week, in addition to attending red-carpet premieres and promoting films, some stars also joined in the fight to tackle the climate crisis. Antonio Banderas, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix, Rainn Wilson, Rosario Dawson, Neve Campbell and Alfre Woodard are among the bold-faced names to join forces with the [...]
Even as celebrity brands are starting to flood the emerging Cannabis market, Hopper Reserve stands out. The brand was launched by Marin Hopper, Dennis Hopper’s daughter from his marriage to Brooke Hayward. Hopper Reserve is a gram of California indoor-grown flower, two packs of rolling papers, a pair of matches and a trading card either [...]
Can this century’s Roaring ’20s repeat history but with pre-rolled joints instead of whiskey flasks and soccer moms as the new flappers? This month, West Hollywood will see the opening of the nation’s first at least quasi-legal cannabis consumption lounge, officially dubbed Lowell Farms: A Cannabis Café, located at 1211 N. La Brea between Fountain [...]
Zach Galifianakis may zing celebrities with some not-so-nice questions and inappropriate observations on his Funny or Die talk show “Between Two Ferns,” but he even thinks he goes too far some times. Case in point — Galifianakis called Bradley Cooper recently to apologize after taking a shot at him in his new full-length feature “Between [...]
Variety will honor Jennifer Aniston, Awkwafina, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, Brie Larson and Dana Walden at the 2019 Power of Women Luncheon. Six hundred guests are invited to attend the event, which will take place Oct. 11 at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons. Aniston is being honored for her work with St. Jude Children’s Research [...]
When Jonathan Larson introduced himself to the cast of the first, downtown production of a new musical called “Rent,” the composer and playwright told those gathered that he’d written a show “about my friends, so that they would not be forgotten.” Now, more twenty years, three posthumous Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize later, the greatest work [...]
