Tyhjiö (Void)
2018
****½
Director: Aleksi Salmenperä
Cast: Laura Birn, Tommi Korpela, Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Matleena Kuusniemi, Minna Haapkylä, Kaija Pakarinen, Kari Heiskanen, Tomi Lindfors, Pihla Viitala
Pihla is an actress whose career is on the up. Her partner Eero is a writer who hasn't produced anything publishable for five years. This story about a relationship between two creative people with opposite career trajectories sounds like the Finnish version of A Star Is Born. However, Aleksi Salmenperä's terrific film is not a tragic drama but a funny and well-observed tragicomic satire that deals with artistic and personal ambitions and pretensions, among many other things. What is more important, the work or the recognition? Salmenperä wrote the script as he went along and shot the mostly black and white film with a small cast and crew on a shoestring budget over more than four years. And yet, the finished product feels poignant and coherent.
