How was the film received in Toronto?
DK: It could not have been better. I was a bit nervous about the fact that the film might be too local, and that people wouldn't get the humor. But when I heard people laugh from beginning to end and when we got four applauses in the middle of the film, I was so relieved. I actually had the best audience reaction ever for one of my films. The film reviews were also very good, so it was as perfect as can be.
So far, you've directed mostly dramas, but Lapland Odyssey is a comic road movie. Was it intentional to explore a different genre?
It was both intentional and accidental. First of all, at 33, I want to continue to develop as a filmmaker and push the boundaries of my filmmaking skills. At the same time, I wanted to deal with a serious subject matter in an entertaining way. In Lapland, the suicidal rate is very high and people die of suicide more than car crashes. We felt the best way to reach the audience directly interested in this subject but also a wider group was to use humor. Finland is perhaps the best country in the world where people laugh at themselves. It's accidental because the film was supposed to be my fourth film. But then it took around five years to get the script right and find the financing.
You've teamed up again with Pekko Pesonen who wrote your first feature film Beauty and the Bastard. Whose idea was it?Pekko was having his first child and his father- in-law insisted he should get a camcorder. He kept nagging him and after a while, Pekko started thinking of making a film about ‘male' roles. Modern couples have been changing in Finland. Women are often stronger, faster, and more capable. In a symbolic way, men have been ‘stuck' on their couches. But although women are bringing food to the table, in some way, society is still hanging on to the traditional idea that men have to do certain jobs, such as fixing the lawnmower or TV set. We wanted to explore the feeling of shame for men who cannot fulfill their ‘manly' duties, and having been an underdog country for centuries. We thought that making a film about the Finnish underdog male shame would be interesting to many!
It's still an odyssey where the characters go through challenges, fight against so-called enemies before returning home as changed persons. Was it hard to find the right tone, and not to make the various encounters too anecdotal?
Yes it did take four years to get the script right. When we started discussing the story, it was a farce. But we felt it wasn't believable and changed it to make it more realistic, with actions that might have happened for real. For instance there are a lot of well off Russians in Lapland. They do wake up in the morning and say, let's fly a helicopter. We started researching situations that had happened and could happen. We showed the film to 700 people in Lapland where we had a premiere. After the screening, they hugged us and said the film is very real and believable.
The music plays an important role in driving the action. It reminded me of Irish folk music, mixed with Ennio Morricone scores from Italian western spaghettis. How did you actually put it together?
Thanks to our co-production with Ireland and Sweden, we were able to get a unique sound. We had sound designers from Sweden and the Irish Lance Hogan as music composer. The film is a great adventure, an odyssey, although the main storyline is very narrow: a couple wanting to get a new digibox. Still, it's a pretext for the three male characters to go on a big journey. For Janne (played by Jussi Vatanen) and his friends (Jasper Pääkkönen and Timo Lavikainen), the inner journey is actually bigger than the physical journey, so the music had to have an epic tone. We did talk about Ennio Morricone with Lance, and felt that in a way it is a Western but set in Lapland.
How difficult was it to shoot the whole film by night under tough weather conditions?
It wasn't that difficult. When we made the film, no other Finnish film was being made at the same time so we could pick the top crews available and experienced in shooting in harsh circumstances. It was -36°F. We had movable saunas because our actors didn't have much clothing on for the film and we thought they might want to stay warm. But they actually preferred to have the feeling of cold. At least, they had the choice! We also shot the studio sequences at Film i Väst Trollhättan studios in Sweden.
Will you make another comedy?
Actually, we're working with Pekko on another amazing Lappish story. In a way it will be a continuation to Lapland Odyssey, not a sequel per se but it will have the same tone. I'm also working on a new teenage movie, exploring how teenagers feel uncomfortable about themselves, seeking something else. Then I am working on a charity short film drama about children living in the slums in Nairobi. It will be shown during the Red Nose days in Finland and hopefully if it sells somewhere, the money will go to charity. It is financed by YLE and the Finnish Film Foundation.
What do you think of Finnish cinema today?
I'm very excited to be part of Finnish cinema today. There is a generational shift. A lot of directors, scriptwriters are in their 30s and are reinvigorating filmmaking. I believe many great films will come out of Finland over the next five years. Last year, we had a great success with many festival awards for Forbidden Fruit and Letters to Father Jacob that got 30 awards together. I'm sure this year will again be very good with other films like Bad Family, Rare Exports, Steam of Life and hopefully Aki Kaurismäki's new film.