For me this is one of those films that I just instantly took to heart, it has the sort of implicit comedy that you expect from the Cohen brothers, and a theme which really plays with your ideas of horror. It does help if you have a bit of background in Finnish mythology, there's no explanation, even in the subtitles, of the yule goat, and the word Joulupukki's close links to old stories about a sort of mischievous Christmas devil. It does introduce some of the old stories, but doesn't explain how they are actually commonly known history pertaining to Father Christmas in Finland, and weren't made up for the film or anything like that. Other than that, the film is visually beautiful, musically dramatic to at least the extent that Danny Elfman had ever achieved for Tim Burton, and has a sort of dignity that something with an undercurrent of comedy rarely has, relying on its ability to be funny without trying, something that Quinten Tarantino and the Cohen Brothers often leave us slack jawed over. I definitely recommend it.
Review of Rare Exports
