DARKNESS IN TALLINN |
| CREDITS: Director: Ikka Jarvilaturi. Cast: Ivo Uukivi & Milena Gulbe. Estonia
(Subtitled) 1994 (15) INTRODUCTION: It has been brought to my attention that we have thus far virtually ignored the burgeoning Estonian film industry. I'm surprised that there haven't been more complaints actually, so I intend to rectify this erroneous omission by covering the first and, thus far, greatest film to emerge from the new republic. SYNOPSIS: Toivo is a small-time caviar smuggler and some-time employee of the Tallinn power plant, who gets caught up in the heist of the century as the criminal fraternity attempt to misappropriate the newly independent country's bullion reserve. REVIEW: Not exactly the sort of film you'd expect from a newly liberated country, this ultra-black comedy-thriller, of the type QT can only dream of making, doubtless owes its American feel to its US script writer Paul Kolsby and its US-dwelling Finnish director Jarvilaturi. The rest of the cast and crew, excluding the Norwegian sound editor, are native Estonians adding authenticity to what could of potentially been a hideous hybrid. The plot flits between warmth and charm one minute to truly brutal violence the next as we follow three interweaving stories, Tovio's relationship with the criminals' who assist him in sabotaging the power station, his wife's life and death struggle as she goes into labour, and the former crime boss' attempt to save his son-in-law from the ensuing violence. Jarvilaturi's direction is superb, as is his clever use of colour, filmed in moody black and white, the film suddenly switching to colour when Tovio seizes control of his life. Uukivi & Gulbe impress as the impressionable Toivo and Maria his domineering pregnant wife respectively, and a completely believable supporting cast, headed by Juri Jarvet as Anton, portray various members of the Estonian underworld and the law enforcement officers out to stop them. A brilliantly executed heist movie, even if the heist itself isn't. Mutt's Rating: ***** |