Martin Persson Movies

One angry girlfriend sends three slackers on a wild ride in this over-the-top comedy from director Dome Karukoski. Janne (Jussi Vatanen) lives in a small town in Northern Finland, where jobs are scarce, there isn't much to do and he isn't about to start worrying about such things. Janne spends his abundant free time napping, playing video games and boozing with his similarly un-ambitious pals Raiha (Timo Lavikainen) and Kapo (Jasper Paakkonen), but several weeks after Janne's girlfriend Inari (Pamela Tola) gave him money to buy a new digital conversion box for their television, she discovers he spent the money on alcohol and decides she's had enough. Inari gives Janne an ultimatum -- either he produces a new converter box by morning or he's out of the house and out of her life. Janne sets out on a snowy, bitterly cold night with Raiha and Kapo to find the gadget, and over the course of a long, strange night they cross paths with a band of angry female water polo champions, some Russians trying to chop up a reindeer, vengeful taxi drivers, a sudden snowstorm and other obstacles. Meanwhile, word of Janne's troubles has gotten back to Mikko (Kari Ketonen), Inari's wealthy former boyfriend who sees an opportunity to get back in her good graces. Napapiirin Sankarit (aka Lapland Odyssey) received its North American premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Though seldom discussed outside of Scandinavia, Finland houses one of the most conservative religious communities in Western Europe. The Laestadians, a group of about 110,000 people, recall the Mennonites with their insistence on taking scripture literally and forbidding their members from partaking in all pleasures deemed hedonistic and "worldly" -- such as dancing, premarital sex, alcohol, television, movies, and birth control. Director Dome Karukoski's (Home of the Dark Butterflies) melodramatic, brooding, coming-of-age feature Forbidden Fruit examines how two Laestadian teens cope with the impositions foisted upon them by the surrounding community. At the center of it all is Maria (Amanda Pilke), a brass-tongued young woman who rejects the Laestadian community's asceticism straightaway and moves to metropolitan Helsinki. Alongside her headfirst plunge into a no-holds-barred lifestyle, she rationalizes her choices by leaning on the idea that she can always return to the Laestadians and have her sins washed clean at a later point. Meanwhile, the community elders grow deeply concerned over Maria's decision to leave the fold, and send the young woman's best friend, über-conservative Raakel (Marjut Maristo) out into the world to bring the prodigal back. Unsurprisingly, Raakel adores the worldly pleasures she experiences and soon caves into them, demonstrating no desire whatsoever to return to the cocoon of self-denial in which she was kept. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi