Film reviews
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The Woman In Black
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Rare Exports (Film)
Rating: M
Running Time: 80
Country: Finland, Norway, Sweden, France
Director: Jalmari Helander
Cast: Per Christian Ellefsen, Tommi Korpela, Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila
Distributor: Icon
Release Date: December 02, 2010
Film Worth: $10.00
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worthWhile there’s plenty to enjoy in this darkly comic flick, its ideas and mythologies are never fully explored.
As young Pietari (Onni Tommila) tells us in this darkly amusing fantasy, Coca-Cola - who created Santa Claus' modern day image via a thirties ad campaign - got it wrong. Santa, as Pietari and his father (Jorma Tommila) find out, isn't at all jolly. And he most certainly doesn't like kids. Pietari delves into the alternate history books to discover Santa's true, scary nature. The guy is evil. And he might just be under the mountains near Pietari's remote Lapland home.
Following on from his internet cult favourite Rare Exports short films (available on YouTube), Finnish director Jalmari Helander doesn't quite know how to fill the longer format. There are enough ideas here for a feature, but the writer/director lets them slide. There's still much to enjoy in this decidedly non-kids flick though, which is laced with the famed Finnish black humour.
Onni Tommila is excellent as Pietari, and the adults - who do little to differentiate themselves - deliver their tasty one-liners for maximum comic impact. There are phrases in Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale that, had this been a blockbuster, would have been immortalised in popular culture in the same way as Arnie's "Hasta la vista, baby." Hollywood, though, is here in the form of a generic soundtrack that doesn't gel with the film's oddball sensibilities.
While not highly recommended, don't leave it for the lounge room if you're keen to see it (unless the sight of a troop of elderly gents going the full monty has the potential to disturb). This is a wonderfully cinematic film, with brilliantly lensed night action and breathtaking mountain scenery. The pace is patchy, meaningful themes are negligible, and the potentially interesting "bad Santa" mythology isn't explored. Yet Rare Exports still leaves you feeling entertained - if not entirely satisfied.
