Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Raymond
Not many reviews of this title, considering it was probably the most successful Finnish movie of 2009. So why not compensate with a bit longer one.It's not an easy one to review. There are good things going on, but there's also a lot of things that didn't work. For me at least. I have to say I was also a bit prejudiced, because you could consider Mäkelä a major blockbuster director who clearly leans more into full-on entertainment rather than deep and nuanced dramatic presentation. I'm not a huge fan if dumbed down blockbusters.The idea of up and coming gangsters bootlegging liquor in 1960's Helsinki is interesting. Much more interesting than what eventually ended up on screen. The story spans over two decades and the movie runs for two hours. The result is a collage of a lot of powerful scenes, which don't really work as a whole as good as they should. All the themes, including liquor bootlegging, domestic violence, drug trafficking and addiction, insanity, miscarriage, infertility, suicide, loneliness, murder, battery are just briefly scratched, with maybe a few exceptions. There is a strange unbalance of seemingly cool blockbuster movie and deeper drama that doesn't work very well. This combination worked much better in Mäkeläs earlier movie "Häjyt".The cast includes the same actors who have been all over Finnish cinema for the last ten years. Most of them very fine actors, but they are so plenty in this movie it just becomes a huge fest of spot-the-actor. Even the supporting cast, who some have nothing to do with the plot, are well known comedians or dramatic actors.Edelmann does a fairly good job as Tomppa. He's is not just "pretending", but actually acting the role if maybe remains a bit distant. Franzen as Krisu is quite convincing as a drug addict, but most of the time he's just way over the top. Viitala does well as Monika, but her character is eventually left as a total mystery. Interestingly comedian Hietalahti pulls up one of the most interesting characters, but he is also a victim of uninspired script writing. Pääkkönen is amazingly miscast as Korppu.Speaking of Korppu, I don't understand the need for so many opponents for Tomppa. While Uki as an old schooler is an interesting (yet irrelevant) character, he makes Korppu look like a school boy in comparison. Then there's the cops. The story would've benefited from concentrating on one baddie. Also, for quite a long into the movie, you're not really sure who's the lead, Edelmann or Franzen, while towards the end, Franzen sort of fades more to the background.Helsinki is a beautiful city, especially the area if Rööperi (Punavuori), but you don't get to see it as much as one would hope. This is probably a productional decision and you end up having a lot of scenes indoors or out of town where you can easily re-create the 60's or 70's feel with a couple of set elements to fit the era. Here lies another problem of the movie, as at times it feels as if you're watching .. well, a set. You can clearly see that the set artists have had a hell of a good time, because there are so many neat vintage elements to be seen. It's like a theme park.It's the sum of it's parts that fails. Good actors, interesting story, bad script. There are some amazingly dumb moments in the script, where the characters are just explaining what they're doing on the screen. As a whole it's an uneven bunch of "cool scenes" where the cast is just try to look "gangsta" and in between having a couple of moving and seemingly deeper scenes, which are way too short for the actors to really get into character.Pretty much everything is over the top and competing of your attention, superstar actors, camera trickery, slo-mo walking, dramatic music, powerful scenes after powerful scenes, detail rich decors. It's like a fat pizza with hundreds of toppings and you end up having hell of a stomach ache.Interesting story which would've deserved a more subtle delivery and not to be treated as a summer blockbuster, too much posing and coolness for me.
Hesekild
Two commentators of this movie must be some upper class gentlemen. If you have experienced the middle/lower class living and you recognize a great movie, you will enjoy this movie very much. The cast is filled with the best movie actors of the present time which isn't anything special in Finland.It just amazes me how funny Hietalahti can be on the film screen. Just like in the Vares movies. The same fun continues on Rööperi. I can't figure any bad performance from any actors in this movie. Just brilliant acting overall.The Criticism for performance of Jasper Pääkkönen as the "Gangster boss" is pretty harsh. I think he did his job fairly well nothing too special but at least not bad. And he was meant to look young and not so tuff that was the whole idea.I've watched many good Finnish films but nothing quite like this. I don't care what the critics say, but for me this was the greatest Finnish movie of all-time.
aku_rouhiainen
Another watchable movie from Finland!Yes, you should definitely see it! It tells about -> 60's Finland.The Movie was well directed and writed but not enough.. Samuli Edelman (Tomppa) acted well but I wondered why he didn't grown up ANY while the movie.. Rööperi is based in true story of Finnish "gang". Rööperi started very well and I enjoyed watching it.. but after 30-60 minutes later it started to feel kinda boring. It was also very funny movie partly. Reason why I gave 6 stars : As I said before the Movie started to feel boring after 30-60 minutes, but it was still 'watchable' and the actors didn't grown up while the movie ANY!!! They looked just same all the time.If you have any chance to watch the movie, watch it!!!
Janne Kainulainen (ichabod81)
The summary pretty much.. erh.. sums it up. The film follows a group of friends who take over the illegal distribution of hard liquor in Helsinki in the mid 60s. What follows is a typical story of the rise and fall of these wanna be gangsters.The movie hardly offers anything new to the tired formula, but there are some good performances such as Edelmann in the leading role and especially the ALWAYS funny Hietalahti in a supporting role. For once, Franzen does his part a bit too over the top, but that's nothing compared to the disaster that is Pääkkönen's "mob boss". The guy looks like he's 12 and the role is passionless and feels phoned in.This will no doubt be a great success here in Finland, but the fact that it's the best of the worst, doesn't make it a good film.
