Review of Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) by Emmi H — 16 Apr 2012

Oh wow. You know a movie must have something exceptional about it when there's a collective giggle in the audience when the last frame fades out. Or maybe that's when you know you're surrounded by the exact right kind of audience.

This movie was very finnish, indeed, all the way from the colour scheme to dialogue and character design. I enjoyed every bit of the naturally quirky dialogue and the script was pure golden, except for the "exciting adventure boy grows up cunning plan" -part where the line of too much Hollywood-cheesiness was crossed in a very out of place kind of way. The boy hanging from the helicopter shouting "YEE-HAWW!!" made me feel queasy: The character growth of Pietari happened too fast, out of nowhere. I could see the script kinda leading the boy into that direction but I didn't see it in the movie itself.

Acting was darn good (I really love seeing stereotypical yet true finnish men portrayed in movies) and even the kids did really well. I already loved them in "Skavabölen pojat" and I loved them after two minutes of screentime once again.

I really hope to see international success for this film. How will the world react to this kind of a statement of owning the origin of Santa? Bow to the only original verison of the story presented in hundreds of years? Believe in Santa Claus? Pass it as fiction? Doubt every Santa they see from now on?