Arctic Circle 2 - 2023 - Finland

Arctic Circle 2 - 2023 - 6/10 
AKA - Ivalo 2

 
Five years on, detective Nina has moved: school for her daughter, hospital for dying mother.
Assassinations and a disappearance draw her back to Ivalo, where she teams with a Russian cop.
Police work and mystery of the lodge are attractions.
Nina’s family business remains a waste of time and grinding gears.
She is a terrible mother, why do writers insist on weighing down this series with oily soap?

Komisario Palmun Erehdys - 1960 - Finland

Komisario Palmun Erehdys - 1960 - 6/10
AKA - Inspector Palmu's Error

 
Bruno sets the rules for a who-can-do-the-best-unreported-crime contest
Then Bruno is found murdered – in a locked bathroom!
The inspector arrives with two flunkies and begins interrogating one liar after another.
Everyone has motives and secrets.  Bruno was hardly a quality soul.
Finnish mystery bears similarity to Krimi.  Comic touches are droll, rather than farce.
Some nudity, too, which surprised me for this 1960 date.
The mystery itself is fun and sustains interest.

Evilside - 2025 - Finland

Evilside - 2025 - 6/10
AKA - Korvessa Kulkevi

 
High-schooler Aapo is devising a satanic themed LARP game.
Something goes awry, however, and he is found murdered.  Butchered corpse on his father’s sled.
Suspicion falls on Joanna, village outsider, rumored to be an acolyte of the devil.
Goth girl, artist of unsettling cataclysms, and apparently Aapo’s muse.
Mind you, there are suspects everywhere on the island.
The officer sent from Vantaa discovers resentments, accusations, and silence.
Brooding series from Finland wanders for four episodes, then dives down an ugly pit.
In some ways, a Twin Peaks locale, minus the Lodge and timeslips.

Arctic Circle - 2018 - Finland

Arctic Circle - 2018 - 6/10
AKA - Ivalo

 
A sexually transmitted disease breaks out in northern Finland.
Mating is OK, hosts are OK, but pregnancies turn into spontaneous, bloodied abortions.
If it spreads, extinction of humanity on a mass scale within generations.
Scientists and law enforcement work in tandem to track down and isolate carriers.
For a cure?  They need to find patient zero.
Potentially gripping thriller is weighed down with too many characters and side plots.
Minor characters are more like cameos, several of the breakaway plots simply vanish.
I suspect writers had enough material for a great 6-part series, but the show was 10 episodes.
Padding, and obvious padding at that.

The Silent - 2015 - Finland

The Silent - 2015 - 6/10

 
Young girl, perhaps 4 or 5, tries to make sense of an increasingly creepy world.
Wordless film has an elegiac tone, while the story quietly resolves.
Those who linger, those who “see”, what they see.
Worth a rewatch to catch all the clues.

The Grobian - 2024 - Finland

The Grobian - 2024 - 6/10

 
Can’t say they weren’t warned.
“It’s just a story,”  the two hikers dismiss the local.
The woods are thick, one of the pair sickens, they must spend the night.
“Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.”
Dark, gory Horror short.

Utö - 2024 - Finland

Utö - 2024 - 6/10

 
There is an ear-piercing sound, followed by atmospheric disturbance.
Afterward, the small Finnish island of Utö is utterly isolated.
No one can leave, no one can arrive.
As supplies dwindle, so too does community spirit.  Every man for himself.
Woven in are supernatural elements and actual history of ship disasters near the island.
Acting in this is bad.  Primarily from the lead (Maria) who is insufferably annoying and whiny.
Subtitles I viewed were inept AI generated: an educated chimpanzee would do better.
The narrative itself has good points, and provides a strange twist near the end.

Stop Nyqvist - 2022 - Finland

Stop Nyqvist - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Pysäyttäkää Nyqvist

 
Heads at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs want a patsy to blame for their own blunders.
Foolish intern Nyqvist is pushed to the head a newly founded secret service.
Thing is, Nyqvist is motivated and earnest.  A go-getter.
Hoping to impress his Finnish bosses, he sinks a sub!
International crisis #1.  Then he realizes he has a highly proficient assassin on his team.
Later, two assassins!
A Swedish hitman arrives to whack our hero.
Eight part series spoofs espionage thrillers, though I confess some Finland references eluded me.

Hamlet Goes Business - 1987 - Finland

Hamlet Goes Business - 1987 - 7/10
AKA - Hamlet liikemaailmassa

 
Finnish reworking transforms the indecisive prince into a Noir player, as manipulative as he is lethal.
Hamlet’s father is murdered.  The murderer marries Hamlet’s mother, takes over management of the company.
He announces he intends to sell off the shipping and timber divisions, in order to corner the rubber duck market.
You read correct.  Rubber duck market.  One of many alterations to the story.
Stark black n white, loaded with droll comedy, and murders aplenty.

I have seen over a dozen Hamlets.  All are overlong and I find Hamlet himself annoying.
This version runs a concise 87“ and is cloaked in a grim smile.
Caveat emptor - Scandinavian humor might be an acquired taste.

Nyrkki: S02 - 2021 - Finland

Nyrkki: S02 - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Shadow Lines: S02

 
Season 02 picks up soon following events of S01.
Team Fist remains, and early on, a lethal adversary is eliminated.
Not so much a different series, but the tone is changed.
The “look” (fashions, sets, music) is diminished, and the narrative delves deeper into espionage.
1950’s Finland is still trying keep out of the Russian bear’s paw.
(At one point, Khrushchev even invites them to become a satellite.)
Much of the narrative circles into the Night Frost era, although this is highly dramatized.
Terrific series.  I suspect this concludes it.

Maria’s Paradise - 2019 - Finland

Maria’s Paradise - 2019 - 6/10
AKA - Marian Paratiisi

 
Onset, the young woman, rechristened Salome, boards the train carrying religious cult followers of Maria Åkerblom.
At first, Salome is awestruck, though gradually the veil opens and she sees misdeeds by other followers.
The religious practice of sleeping prophecy is shown, but it is hard to see how it grips others.
Maria, as leader, has presence, but also a taste for “nice things.”  Material things.
A pattern mirrored with modern religious shepherds.
Interesting drama will perhaps yield more to those familiar with Åkerblom.

I came onto this rather circuitously.
Hans Ewers’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (Side Real Press) has an appendix on the sleeping prophet phenomenon.
Benjamin Tweddell’s “Sermons In A House Of Grief” points toward another Finnish cult, Kartanoism.

Borderland: The Mural Murders - 2021 - Finland

Borderland:  The Mural Murders - 2021 - 5/10
AKA - Sorjonen: Muraalimurhat

 
Opening shot, the hooded person stands before the suspended corpse, draining blood.
Next scene, bystanders stare at the crimson mural, painted in bright red blood!
Alas, the hooded artist is not Banksy.  Neither does blood dry a lurid red.
The lead inspector, mystified, consults a genius mentor, now in a mental institution.
Yep, the nutty cop trope.  Another overused crutch warning me of crapola writing ahead.
Various social miscreants have been kidnapped and online voting determines who gets killed.
Interesting – if that line had been pursued.  Instead, the narrative consists of abandoned ideas and cameo characters.
Oh yeah, and a brilliant sociopath, imprisoned, whom the authorities release so he can deliver a college lecture!
The writers ought to be ashamed for scribbling such garbage.  Even Hallmark Mysteries are better constructed.

Cold Courage - 2020 - Finland

Cold Courage - 2020 - 6/10

 
Might have scored this slightly higher had not the creators deliberately bungled the ending.
Finnish immigrant Lia is recruited by a clandestine political action group.
Aim?  Prevent right wing candidate Arthur Fried from being elected.
There is a side plot of white slave traffic, which feels tacked on, as well as a useless police investigation.
John Simm is spectacular as the charismatic Fried (Putting the Great Back into Great Britain) and is the reason to watch this series.
Eight episodes feels about right, and midway through the finale, you envision how this should wrap.
Except – No! –  While this could easily conclude, show producers decided to stall and milk for a S02.
Don’t bother.  This is good, but not that good, and don’t encourage lazy crap like that.

Sound From The Deep - 2017 - Finland

Sound From The Deep - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Ett Läte ur Djupet

Time is running out for a geo-expedition hunting for gas in the Arctic Ocean.
Winter approaches, and the sea ice is thickening.
Then sonar picks up some sounds, so they steam deeper north.

 
One of the better Lovecraftian shorts out there.
The photography, sound, and direction are first class.
Despite naysayers, the actors seem to be professionals – not relatives of investors.

Note:  Available subtitles are computer generated.  I reworked those.
https://subscene.com/subtitles/sound-from-the-deep

Stolen Death - 1938 - Finland

Stolen Death - 1938 - 7/10
AKA - Varastettu Kuolema

Finland, circa 1904, tries to break free of Czarist rule.
Revolutionaries, printing subversive flyers and broadsheets, progress to seeking weapons.
The secret police hunt them, an arms dealer blackmails them, and traps lay everywhere.

 
One of the last Expressionist films, the narrative moves too quickly for its own good.
Indeed, twenty minutes in, I paused this, quite confused, to research.
After the initial release, 15 minutes were cut (though preserved), reason for the narrative jumps.
Film scholars theorize the girl is actually a prostitute, sleeping with Russian soldiers for guns.
The arms dealer / blackmailer is her pimp.
And he doesn't count on her falling in love with one of the revolutionaries.

 
Camera work is memorable throughout, though the print is battered.
Finland actually has the complete cut, so a restored version is possible.
The director only made five films, before dying in World War II, age 29.

White Wall - 2020 - Finland

White Wall - 2020 - 5/10

 
The abandoned mining facility seems a perfect site for long term nuclear waste storage.
Deep underground, the waste should stay safe for 100,000 years.
Of course there are protestors and eco-terrorists, but Security is robust.
As the grand opening nears, workers strike a towering white wall.
Impenetrable, composition unknown.  Archeologists date it over a billion years old.
While this series is classified as SciFi, this is what Harlan Ellison termed Speculative Fiction.
It is also slow and padded with purposeless characters and empty sideplots.
This ought to have been a two hour movie, period.
You could probably skip half the episodes and miss little.

Black Widows - 2014 - Finland

Black Widows - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - Mustat Lesket

 
Above.  Happy men (husbands) with unhappy women (wives).
Would the males be so jovial if they knew their boat would soon explode, with them on it?
Because those unhappy wives planted a bomb.
Afterward, the widows must deal with investigators, shady business partners, studs drawn by their single status.
Some good mystery angles, lightened with laugh out loud humor.
Again and again, they have to deal with the unexpected.
That, and they can’t always rely on each other.  Indeed, I found two to be weak links.
Wildly popular, dark series from Finland spawned copycats in Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, the Middle East, India, Mexico, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic.  (For English speakers, subbed not dubbed.)

+++

Two years later, there is S02.  Several loose threads are taken up, but not necessarily stitched.
New characters enter, fresh narrative track is laid down.  Nothing essential, however.
Midway, the tempo and energy begins to flag, as if the creative crew is padding, hoping for a S03.
Which never transpired, leaving this series with multiple unresolved storylines.

 

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale - 2010 - Finland

Rare Exports:  A Christmas Tale - 2010 - 6/10

 
Ho ho ho.
In Finland, US geologists / archeologists drill into something unexpected in the Korvatunturi mountains.
Animals are later found slaughtered, all the children are kidnapped.
They had accidentally unearthed the original Santa Claus, not the merry Coca Cola version.
The one from the locked histories, the one who devours children.
The grim winter monster with terrible appetites.
Needless to say, a dark film, set at night with difficult characters.
Not as much action or narrative thrust as I would have liked.
Enjoyable, but could have used more voltage.
Note: Most of the dialogue is in Finnish.

Iron Sky: Director's Cut - 2012 - Finland

Iron Sky:  Director's Cut - 2012 - 6/10

 
Nazis!  On the Moon!
A battalion of the Third Reich fled WWII aftermath and hid out on the dark side of the Moon.
Sixty years later, their base is discovered and they launch blitzkrieg.
Funny satire with great looking old school contraptions.
Political / military humor was dead on, Sarah Palin lookalike as gun totin’ US President! What’s not to like?
Other elements felt forced. Example: the racial purity storyline.
Still quite funny with unexpectedly nice SciFi action sequences.
The Director’s Cut added additional special effects after early profits rolled in.
The sequel … dear me …. How could the creative team have stumbled so ineptly?

Karppi - 2019 - Finland

Karppi - 2019 - 7/10
AKA - Deadwind

 
Police thriller set primarily in and around Helsinki.
A body is unearthed near a recently announced property development.
The detective assigned is freshly bereaved, her new partner, a transfer from Technical.
Character dynamics surface now and then, but the wandering trail predominates.
Clues and witness statements lead to detours and false paths.
Nevertheless, those are generally engaging, one is rather funny.
A few reviewers have compared this with The Bridge, another Scandinavian cop series.
No, not close.  Karppi is not Saga, and this series is not as dark nor as grim.