The main character Jon (Kari Väänänen) goes through some kind of young man's angst in Helsinki, Finland and ends up working in a distant Norwegian island at a fish processing plant. There he meets Heikki Öljynen (Vesa-Matti Loiri), or Öljys-Heikki (which would translate as "Oils-Heikh"). Latter parts of the movie are about drinking beer in Norway, fighting and general disorder. Evidently Jon's plan about finding job in Norway is not successful in the end. Have to admit, however, that northern Norway scenery is very atmospheric.
The movie is only occasionally interesting and thus the approx. two hour duration feels too long. Perhaps the biggest drawback is a weak storytelling and many irrelevant feeling scenes. The acting is, however, above average. Especially Loiri's interpretation of Öljynen is a joy to watch. Loiri has actually mentioned this particular role to be one his favorites.
The movie suffers from a typical problem with older Finnish films: the soundtrack including dialog is too low volume or is recorded in too bad quality. It is occasionally difficult to hear what actors say. Fortunately some parts of the movie are with subtitles since the languages include in addition to Finnish also Norwegian, English and German.
One of the more interesting Finnish movies from 1980's I have seen but it would benefit from a shorter cut!
The movie is only occasionally interesting and thus the approx. two hour duration feels too long. Perhaps the biggest drawback is a weak storytelling and many irrelevant feeling scenes. The acting is, however, above average. Especially Loiri's interpretation of Öljynen is a joy to watch. Loiri has actually mentioned this particular role to be one his favorites.
The movie suffers from a typical problem with older Finnish films: the soundtrack including dialog is too low volume or is recorded in too bad quality. It is occasionally difficult to hear what actors say. Fortunately some parts of the movie are with subtitles since the languages include in addition to Finnish also Norwegian, English and German.
One of the more interesting Finnish movies from 1980's I have seen but it would benefit from a shorter cut!
