Kahlekuningas is a rare co-production between Finns and Swedes that shows tension and farcical humour in a border town... The film is set in the mid-70s in the dead of winter. Twelve-year-old Esko stands on the railroad bridge over a small river separating Finland and Sweden in the far north. He has a hood over his head and his hands handcuffed behind his back and he's ready to jump--all this despite, according to flashbacks, the miserable failure of the same Harry Houdini trick earlier that night... Other factors have led to this dire stand: his scrappy, long-suffering mother, has finally left his ineffectual, drink-prone dad; his big brother fancies himself a rock star; and his almost mute, frequently incontinent grandfather keeps wandering off... But mostly Esko is getting over an unusual summer, in which he was befriended by Patrick, an odd Swedish boy on the other side of the trestle. Patrick has a thing about magic, and he may need some, since the shorn-haired boy has cancer... (Source: website Vancouver International Film Festival 2003)
Patrick dies eventually and Esko misses him deerly. And perhaps that is why he tries to copy the famous Harry Houdini trick: as a tribute to Patrick and a way to remember him. And perhaps also because he wishes to be with him again, since everything in his life goes wrong. Esko is ready to jump from the bridge, not into the water but, since Finnish winters are very cold, onto the ice. But he doesn’t jump because just in time Helene, Patrick’s sister who blames Esko for his death, comes to the rescue and reconciles with Esko. “I guess that when you stop trying too hard things start falling in place”, Esko thinks and he’s right because from there on things indeed start to fall in place and Esko starts feeling better and even gets befriended with Helene.
Kahlekuningas is a beautifully made movie about life in a small Finnish town. However not always easy to understand because of a number of flashbacks and flashforwards and scenes that not always seem to connect with each other. All in all however I enjoyed the movie.
Miikka Enbuske plays the role of the main character, the boy ‘Esko’. He was found through interviews and castings and so far this is the only he made. Miikka lives in the city of Tornio in Northern Finland where the events of this film also takes place. He sure impressed me with this role.
The R2 DVD is available with English subtitles and extras like the Making of… through
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Kahlekuningas (2002) (Read 10,120 times)
