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JuneGirl77
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Sorjonen: Muraalimurhat (2021)
The butchered version (movie)
This isn't exactly a review, but more like an attempt to draw people's attention to the fact that this shorter movie version is way worse than the 3-episodes-long mini-series that is available at least on Yle Areena in Finland.
I made the mistake of watching this from Netflix, as it suggested it after another Nordic Noir -thing I had just watched. I was baffled, then, because I already had it on my watchlist on Yle, and had had the idea in my mind that it should've been longer and in 2 or 3 parts - although I knew it had been in cinemas earlier. So, the thing is, it's a decent mini-series after the very good 3-seasons-long original, but this version is not good at all. I'd give the better one maybe 7, but not this one. A lot of dialog had been cut, or removed completely, as was with some scenes otherwise as well; little bits and pieces that made the whole story much easier to follow, and some scenes that made it a very different thing altogether were just not there. Even the ending is different. Honestly. What where they thinking?
I was very disappointed with this, but much less so after watching the whole thing. There's just no way to review that one, it's about half an hour longer and makes so much more sense. I wish people would see that one, instead of this butchered thing that was very difficult to follow even. Being a very detail-oriented person watching films and TV-series, and this being about Kari Sorjonen, a character who is all about details as well, I have to say I'm being generous with 5 stars here. But that's for the actors and characters, especially for Ville Virtanen.
What a shame.
Takaisin valoon (2018)
All the stars for wonderful Marissa
I have seen this twice now. I believe that my own life experiences, albeit very different from the outside, make this documentary very captivating. I usually don't like that much dramatized documentaries but here it didn't bother me at all. The powerful and at the same time somehow fragile presence of Marissa herself throughout the film was all that was needed. Her voice telling the story. Her courage. And by that I mean being able to sit there and show how the memories of the most traumatizing events of her life still shake her and bring up tears. That's a tall order. And her descriptions of the events have this sense of synaesthesia to which I can relate to very well. I suppose others who have rated the film (which are very few anyway at this point) don't have as many similarities with their inner experiences, or maybe they just haven't had serious traumatic events in their life. For me to say this was moving is an understatement.
I don't have much to say about any technical aspects, I just watch films, and if something is bothering me visually or sound-wise, it really does bother me, and I remember those very well afterwards. Nothing there to criticize. This one made me go through the rabbit hole of my own past as I watched, and listened, but afterwards I didn't feel battered at all. Something must have been done right to tell a story like this and leave someone like me feeling hopeful in the end. I'm not one to easily consider forgiveness or see the light ahead. Maybe that's why people like me need films like this.