Friday, August 10, 2012

Ja saapuu oikea yö / Hush

Då natten faller. FI © 2012 Helsinki-Filmi. P: Aleksi Bardy. D: Jyri Kähönen. SC: Tuomas Parviainen. DP: Mark Stubbs - digital intermediate: James Post - DCP mastering: Tommi Gröhn. PD: Sarah Bowen-Walsh. Cost+makeup: Marjo Federley. Hair: Susanna Jyrkänvaara. M: Samu Kuukka, Ville Kuukka. S: Janne Jankeri. ED: Iikka Hesse. Casting: Jyri Kähönen, Tutsa Paananen, Pia Pesonen. C: Jarkko Niemi (Sakari), Jemina Sillanpää (Veera), Martti Suosalo (Aarno), Kaija Pakarinen (Marja), Antti Virmavirta (Olli). Released by Scanbox Entertainment with Swedish subtitles by Saliven Gustavsson. 2K DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 4, Helsinki, 10 August 2012.

The title of the film is inspired by the popular lullaby "Sininen uni" ["The Blue Dream"] (1952) by Tapio Rautavaara.

The official presentation: "Hush is an intense thriller about love breaking the boundaries of humanity and secrets that are too huge to be said out loud. Another person, even a close one, is always a mystery. Sakari and Veera are engaged, madly in love. Veera completely shocks Sakari by asking him for help in killing her father. Sakari does everything in his power in trying to solve the web of secrets. He's being forced to make choices he thought he'd never face. Would you do anything for your love?"

A family tragedy, a murder story, an account of a destructive mental disturbance and the power of persuasion of a mentally disturbed person.

Made by new talent, Ja saapuu oikea yö has thrilling elements as the unsuspecting Sakari gets caught in the web of Veera's fabrications about her father Aarno. Even though Sakari makes efforts to get a sober and balanced view, learning to know Aarno, Veera's views are more persuasive to him.

It is very hard to kill a person, and Veera would not succeed by herself. Sakari helps her, believing that he is only putting a finishing touch to a murder already committed. It is a special strength of the movie to show the ugly mess of violence. In today's popular entertainment movies there is a lot of impressionistic violence where the gory details are omitted to secure a PG-13 rating. Here the killing is a devastating event that will have a permanent impact on the lives of the murderers.

I like the motif of the roller coaster. In the beginning we see only the faces of Veera and Sakari at the roller coaster. Later during the film we return to the motif and see the abyss.

I found it impossible to relate to the characters, and Sakari's sudden turn from skepticism to actively helping in Veera's murder plan feels incredible. There is no feeling of grand passion or mad love between them. Instead, Veera is yet another example of a dominating figure in Finnish cinema during the last 15 years: the harridan, and she is of the worst kind.

The sound design is effective, and the music helps to create a thrilling atmosphere in the beginning, but towards to end it starts slightly to drag.

The visual quality of the presentation had a flat, bleak, low definition look.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Agree that Sakari's sudden, inexplicable shift, from opposing the murder to actively participating, is incredible, hard to believe. And, throughout the events leading up to the killing, he never once asks her, does not demand to know, why she hates her father so intensely. Who knows why crazy people do what they do? Perhaps that is the point of the film.