Saturday, October 20, 2012

Must Have Been Love

Kaksi tarinaa rakkaudesta / Det måste ha varit kärlek. NO/FI © 4½ Fiksjon / Kinotar. P: Karin Julsrud, Lasse Saarinen, Rimbo Salomaa. P assoc: Linn Kirkenær. D: Eirik Svensson. SC: Eirik Svensson, Jyrki Väisänen. DP: Martin Hogsens Solvang. M: Verneri Pohjola. S: Micke Nyström. ED: Karsten Meinich. C: Pamela Tola (Kaisa), Espen Klouman-Høiner (Jacob / Andreas), Pihla Viitala, Laura Birn, Mattis Herman Nyquist (August), Audun Lunnan Hjor (Audun). Loc: Istanbul, Helsinki, Oslo (Tøyen, Kaffeflugen on Pilestredet street, kebab restaurant on Torggatan), Berlin. In Finnish and Norwegian. 91 min. Released by Nordisk Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jaana Wiik / Saliven Gustavsson. 2K DCP (presumably). Viewed at Tennispalatsi 12, Helsinki, 20 Oct 2012 (Finnish premiere weekend).

Official synopsis: "During a holiday trip to Istanbul the dancer-choreographer Kaisa becomes infatuated with the handsome Norwegian Jacob, but the romance that has started beautifully is interrupted as the Norwegian guys continue their journey. While working in Oslo Kaisa bumps into Andreas who looks exactly like Jacob, but as a human being Andreas is completely different. By and by, a serious relationship is started, but the memory of Jacob still lingers in Kaisa's mind."

"Must Have Been Love tells about the incessant tension between infatuation and insecurity while falling in love and finding 'the right one'. How can one tell true love from a romantic dream whose object is inaccessible? Can one find the right one, or is the whole life fundamentally a journey of self-discovery?" (official synopsis, my translation)

There is talent among the cast and the crew, but Must Have Been Love is seriously underwritten and fails to reach an aching, irresistible approach to the interesting story: with one guy (Jacob) everything goes right, with the other guy (Andreas) nothing goes right. The guys look identical, played by the same actor, and Kaisa tries to project the good qualities of Jacob to Andreas, but it is impossible.

Aspects of interest: - There are scenes where the interplay of the actors is engaging: the three Finnish girls meeting the three Norwegian guys in Istanbul, all communicating in bad English while arranging a barbeque party. - When Kaisa meets Andreas, Kaisa is not dancing anymore, and Andreas has stopped playing basketball. Kaisa is now a dance coach for children. She speaks about the difficulty of verbalizing choreography. - Paavo Nurmi was a great runner, but "he could not run away from himself".

The location shooting is great in Istanbul (the panoramas, the fish market), in Oslo (see above), in Helsinki (Corona Bar among other places), and Berlin (U-Bahnhof Möckernbrücke).

The visual quality of the screening was ok.

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