Valkoinen kaupunkiFrozen City

Competition Narrative Films, Finland 2006, 90 Min., English subtitles

Valkoinen kaupunki

Veli-Matti is a taxi driver in Helsinki. With no sympathy for the drunks and vagrants he passes, he thinks it would be best if the snow simply covered up all the misery. Veli-Matti and his wife Hanna have three children and he is looking after them alone while she is on holiday. He has no idea when she’ll be back. When she finally returns after a two-month absence, Veli-Matti’s life goes into decline. Hanna throws him out. He moves into a shabby apartment and can see his beloved children only occasionally because his wife is granted custody. To add insult to injury, Veli-Matti is at loggerheads with a neighbour, loses his job, is spurned by a prostitute, and finds his guinea pig killed. Veli-Matti loses it and becomes a murderer. Aku Louhimies’ fatalistic portrait of a marginalised life, with echoes of Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”, focuses on a character from his TV production “Fragments”. As in his feature film “Frozen Land” (NFL 2005) he shows people cast adrift in the face of adversity.

Director Aku Louhimies

Screenplay Paavo Westerberg, Mikko Kouki

Cast Janne Virtanen (Veli-Matti), Susanna Anteroinen (Hanna), Aada Hames, Santtu Nuutinen, Viivi Hames, Juha Veijonen

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Screenings

No screenings are available for this film.