Review of Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) by Arny B — 03 May 2011

Rare Exports is a finnish fantasy/horror film about a group of reindeer herders that, thanks to some american scientist's excavations, learn about the true identity of Santa Claus, which may just be the opposite of what the world expects.

While Rare Exports is a good film and it definitely plays with a great concept, it still lacks on some aspects, like running time for example. The film is too short and it has a negative effect on the narrative. The storyline just feels like it could have been expanded upon some more. By the time it is clear that the final act is almost over, the audience is left thinking "wait, is this it?".

The characters, while very well played by these fresh finnish faces (fresh at least for the american audience), could have also benefited from a little more development, at least some comprehensible development given the situation. When we get to the final act of the movie, the protagonist suffers from a very random personality transformation that feels like the filmmakers just wanted to end early.

But the movie also makes some things right. As I said before, the premise is great. The whole "Santa Clause's true identity" concept is really fun and interesting, and while it's not the first time a film deals with an evil Santa Clause, it is certainly one of the only scripts that combines it so well with finnish tales and myths. As one finnish reviewer has already said before me, if you are familiar with finnish and norwegian culture, then you will probably enjoy the cultural references much more than american audiences.

To conclude, this is not a bad film at all, but it lacks that certain "something" (mainly running time) to make it special.