Showing posts with label teemu nikki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teemu nikki. Show all posts

26.5.22

The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic / Sokea mies joka ei halunnut nähdä Titanicia

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Verovatno da ne postoji grublja i malicioznija pogreška, od tvrdnje da su osobe s invaliditetom zapravo osobe s posebnim potrebama.

To čak i logički ne štima: potrebe koje imaju (za samostalnošću, društvom, ljubavlju, zabavom) su sasvim normalne i ni po čemu posebne. Sa druge strane, put za njihovo zadovoljavanje je duži, teži i zaobilazniji, pa zahteva poseban trud i od njih samih, i od njihove neposredne okoline, i od društva.

Zašto bi slepa osoba bila zakinuta za iskustvo uživanja u filmovima? Zašto u tome ne bi imala neke određene preference, poput, recimo, filmova Džona Karpentera ili Džejmsa Kamerona? Zašto ne bi, kao i svaka druga osoba, imala pravo da apriorno i bez gledanja mrzi neki film, recimo Kameronov ,,Titanic“ (1997), jer ga smatra izdajom svega za čime je autor stajao?

Sa ovim pitanjima ući ćemo u najnoviji uradak finskog režisera i velikog filmofila Temua Nikija, ,,The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic“. Niki je samouki autor koji se praksirao na video-spotovima i kratkim filmovima, i koji je pre ovog filma kreirao lokalnu hitičnu TV seriju i tri filma od kojih je s poslednjim, naslovom ,,Euthanizer“ (2017), izašao i na globalnu pozornicu kao autor finskog kandidata za Oskara. Njegov se izraz može opisati kao hibrid žanrovskog, dramskog i crnohumornog, uz obilje referenci i nekoliko dodirnih tačaka s uracima „finskog čudačkog talasa“ (,,Finnish Weird Wave“). ,,The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic“ premijeru je imao prošle godine u Veneciji, u novom programu ,,Orizzonti Extra“, gde je osvojio nagradu publike, a na festivalskoj turneji je zaigrao i na Crossing Europe festivalu u Lincu.

Niki film otvara scenom sna u kojoj muškarac trči, i na tu scenu će se vraćati i produbljivati je. Nakon toga, u vizuelno vrlo neobičlnoj sekvenci sačinjenoj od dugih, neprekinutih vožnji kamerom iz blizine, uz zaslepljujuću svetlinu i izrazito plitki fokus kamere Sari Altonen, koji pozadinu kadra ostavlja potpuno mutnom, upoznajemo se s našim protagonistom Jakom (Petri Poikolainen). On pati od multiple skleroze, zbog koje je slep i paralizovan od struka naniže.

On u svom malom stanu živi svojevrsni „Dan mrmota“ koji se sastoji od ustajanja uz muku, podsetnika da treba da uzme tablete, smarajućih telefonskih poziva njegovih roditelja, poseta patronažne medicinske sestre i skrbnice koju on u crnohumornoj i filmofilskoj maniri „krsti“ Vilks ili Rečid, te trenutaka opuštanja uz medicinsku marihuanu, dok ga susedi olajavaju, pretpostavljajući da je njegov invaliditet posledica pijanstava u prošlosti.

Jedino što razbija tu rutinu su telefonski razgovori sa prijateljicom Sirpom (Marjana Maijala) koja se, pak, nosi sa bolešću koja joj uzrokuje teške bolove. Njih dvoje se nikada nisu upoznali uživo, i žive u različitim gradovima („udaljenost od 100 kilometara je kao udaljenost od milion svetlosnih godina“, kaže jedna replika njihovog razgovora), ali njihovo prijateljstvo i njihova veza je stvarna. Sve dok Jako ne dođe na ideju da promeni dva taksija i jedan voz i dođe joj u posetu, za šta mu, po njegovom izračunu, treba pomoć „petoro neznanaca“.

Iako mu je humor pomalo crn (dosta tipično za Fince), a filmski ukus gravitira ka mračnijim i manje sentimentalnim žanrovima, za Jakoa možemo reći da je simpatičan i vedrog duha, zbog čega može računati da će pomoć dobiti čak i od nepoznatih ljudi. Opet, osim dobrih ljudi, ima i onih koji su spremni svaku slabost iskoristiti i koji u tome ne prezaju ni od čega. Očekivano, stvari ne kreću po planu na njegovom putu, pa će se on naći u opasnosti bez garancija preživljavanja. Njemu, pak, preživljavanje kao takvo ne znači ništa ako ne upozna Sirpu...

Ma koliko se Nikijevi filmovi činili ekstravagantnim i neobičnim, zapravo su puni duha, srca i iskrene humanosti. ,,The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic“ po tome nije izuzetak, već pre radikalni ekstrem, kako po pitanju prenosa tog osećaja nemoći i osujećenosti s kojim se suočavaju osobe s invaliditetom na gledaoce, tako i zbog duboko humane poente, zbog čega bismo čak mogli da ga nazovemo i ultimativnim romantičnim filmom.

Nikijev scenario baziran je na istraživanju i posrednim iskustvima, režija je apsolutno posvećena efektu i dubokim emocijama koje film uspeva da generiše od početka do kraja, humorni momenti se smenjuju s potresnima, ali bez sažaljevajuće sentimentalnosti, vešto su kalibrirani i znalački raspoređeni. O sinergiji s direktorkom fotografije i s dizajnerima zvuka je izlišno govoriti, oni nas pod Nikijevom dirigentskom palicom transponuju direktno u srce i u um našeg protagoniste.

Ovakvi filmovi bi u nekoj drugoj varijanti znali da budu zamka za glumca koji bi bio primoran da igra nešto što mu je posve nepoznato, čak i teško zamislivo, a ultimativno dostignuće bi mu bila relativno verna i respektabilna imitacija koja ne bi nikog uvredila. Nažalost, Petri Poikolainen ne treba puno da glumi: on i sam pati od multiple skleroze, zbog čega je dvadeset godina bio odsutan s velikih i malih ekrana. Opet, Jako nije neka fikcionalizovana verzija glumca (premda je Temu Niki imao svog prijatelja u vidu za glavnu ulogu verovatno još i pre nego što je počeo da piše scenario), niti je njegova ekstenzija, već je punokrvni i pomno interpretirani filmski lik.

,,The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic“ je svakako značajan film, i to na više nivoa, i kao film koji detaljno i dubinski predstavlja invaliditet i kao film koji ruši tabu da osoba sa invaliditetom može da bude aktivni glumac ili glumica. Pored toga je na svakom izvedbenom planu ovo jedan od onih retko pažljivih, odmerenih, inteligentnih i humanih filmova koji će još dugo ostati s gledaocima.

30.9.18

A Film a Week - Euthanizer / Armomurhaaja


Apparently, rural Finland is a place where a person can meet a variety of colourful characters, like a car mechanic who bears the title “of thousand vaginas”, a bunch of comically useless neo-Nazi poseurs who call themselves “The Soldiers of Finland”, but instead of fighting the non-existent immigrants, they are more interested in designing logos and stealing car tyres, a hospice nurse with the taste for erotic asphyxiation or a motorbike repair-man who moonlights as a euthanizer for the folks poor enough to go to greedy veterinarians at the clinic. The latter is the titular character of an offbeat drama-thriller directed by Teemu Nikki, self-taught filmmaker with a number of shorts, music videos, commercials, a hit series and two feature-length films behind him. It is already quite a success that there were some brave or crazy people in Finnish film institutions to make Euthanizer an Oscar candidate. Chances are slim, but, hey, who would think that Lordi could win the Eurosong contest?

Euthanizer’s “Christian name” is Veijo Haukka and he is a bit of a jerk, a 60-ish pipe-smoking loner who will give his customers a lecture about how they are the cruel ones for actually keeping animals as pets without knowing enough about their natural needs. He is played to perfection by the legendary Finnish character actor Matti Onnismaa. Veijo’s ethics might seem unorthodox, yet firm: smaller animals like cats would get a gas chamber made out of an old car, dog will get shot, even the roadkill will get a proper burial and not a single healthy animal would die of his hand.

He is less merciful with people not just because of his seemingly heartless lectures, but his general attitude towards people. He will not hesitate to give hard time to the veterinarian he finds greedy and unethical, and even to his dying father (Heikki Nousiainen), a former alcoholic now in hospice. Like some kind of a folksy philosopher, Veijo sees that everybody, his father included, should receive just the right amount of pain before they die. It might seem that he is given a chance of happiness when he meets his father’s nurse Lotta (Hannamaija Nikander) who takes an instant interest in him, but his principal character flaw and a misunderstanding of sorts will get him in trouble with an emasculated member of a nazi gang named Petri (Jari Virman) and his thug buddies…

A piece of trivial information says that Nikki has finished the principal photography of the film before even looking for funding, but it can be explained with the fact that most of his cast and crew were his collaborators on previous project, including the actors and co-producer Jani Pösö who also served as the co-writer on his two previous features Simo Times Three (2012) and Lovemilla (2015). Nikki was his own editor and together with the cinematographer Sari Aaltonen keen on handheld camerawork, he also served as the set and costume designer. The whole budget was around 300.000 € and the film has a certain B-movie appeal to it.

Speaking of that, it is worth noting that the whole B-movie thing is not a piece of hipster irony (even though there is more than enough irony, sarcasm and pitch-black humour delivered with a deadpan seriousness in the film’s text, which is kinda typical for the Finnish way of life), but an earnest effort in the likes of Monte Hellman’s films where animals, cars and vistas also have a certain role in social landscape and the “smart-ass-ery” of the protagonist can be read as a tribute to Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry which Nikki quotes as a big influence.

On the other hand, Euthanizer does not just play cool like B-movies usually do, it is cool because, of all things, its emotional core and strong sense of humaneness portrayed through the unapologetic character of Veijo (who is the only one fully developed). It might take time for him to get under our skin, but once he is there, we could follow him to the end of the world. His larger than life personality (due to Onnismaa masterful acting), together with the title, is the reason for the film to work also as an out of the box origins story to a superhero series, which, having Rendel in mind, might be a trend in Finnish genre cinema. We might just need a slightly different ending, maybe one more scene, one more shot, mid-credits or a regular one.