Taavi Eelmaa Movies
A seemingly normal man is drawn into a life where nothing makes sense in this offbeat comedy from Estonian filmmaker Veiko Õunpuu. Tony (Taavi Eelmaa) is an ordinary white-collar office drone whose world is becoming increasingly bizarre. His wife (Ravshana Kurkova) is increasingly angry and disinterested in him, his teenage daughter doesn't pay attention to him, his father's funeral turned into a spectacle when a massive auto wreck interrupted the procession, and his employers have become ruthless to the point of incoherence. When Tony helps an attractive young woman (Ravshana Kurkova) who is being harassed by police, she becomes a frequent presence in his life until she's abducted, leading Tony into a netherworld of surreal violence and criminal behavior that could pass for performance art. Püha Tõnu Kiusamine (aka The Temptation of St. Tony) received its North American premiere as an official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Taavi Eelmaa, Ravshana Kurkova, (more)
A group of desperate oddballs from the former U.S.S.R. find their lives intersecting in illuminating and surprising ways as they strive for elusive happiness, in Autumn Ball, Estonian director Veiko Õunpuu's poetic and slightly absurdist tragicomedy. The time and place: far Eastern Europe, just after the fall of the Iron Curtain but before the resurgence in economic growth among the Baltic states. In these environs, we visit one of the bleak government-financed housing estates that scattered the Soviet landscape just prior to Communism's demise. Residents include Theo (Taavi Eelmaa), a cloakroom attendant in a restaurant who "collects" lonely women and enjoys affairs with them; Kaski (Sulevi Peltola), a hairdresser whom many suspect of pedophilia given his unhealthy interest in the schoolgirl Lotta (Iris Persson); Mati (Rain Tolk), a writer sent into a devastating personal crisis (and severe alcoholism) when his wife, Jaana (Mirtel Pohla), leaves him; Maurer (Juhan Ulfsak), an architect slightly more well-to-do than the others, who embodies the bright economic future of Estonia; and Lotta's mother, Laura (Maarja Jakobson), a single parent struggling to make ends meet via hardscrabble labor in a garment factory. Like Õunpuu's premier effort, the 43-minute feature Empty, this material was adapted from the writings of Mati Unt. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rain Tolk, Taavi Eelmaa, (more)
- 2007
A young woman discovers dabbling in black magic can have profound consequences in this drama from Estonian director Rainer Sarnet. Ann (Ragne Veensalu) is a teenage girl whose often-difficult relationship with her parents becomes all the more strained when she learns her mother (Viire Valdma) is going to have a baby. Ann discovers an internet site devoted to Satanic rituals, and spitefully uses the information to place a curse on the child her mother is carrying; to Ann's surprise, the baby is born with a congenital heart defect, and she believes the spell she cast is the cause. Ann develops a growing curiosity about Satan worship, and becomes friends with Maya (Lenna Kuurmaa), a schoolmate who is familiar with the black arts and knows others who have turned to the devil for power. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ragne Veensalu, Lenna Kuurmaa, (more)
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