Sadness and a sense of unease pervade this Western-inflected drama from Estonian director Veiko Õunpuu, which is set in a outpost of Finland that feels as though it is just beyond the edge of nowhere. It is here in this small community - dominated by men, with all the problems that brings with it - that the commercial drive of mining is coming up against the more traditional reindeer herding way of life, although both are threatening to either crumble or, possibly, explode.
It's not just the choice of employment, everything here has the feel of being caught between one thing and another, including Rupi (Pääru Oja), who works for the mines but whose ageing and infirm father (Sulevi Peltola) is flatly refusing to sell his land to unpleasant mining boss Kari. Rupi is also hovering between the legal...
It's not just the choice of employment, everything here has the feel of being caught between one thing and another, including Rupi (Pääru Oja), who works for the mines but whose ageing and infirm father (Sulevi Peltola) is flatly refusing to sell his land to unpleasant mining boss Kari. Rupi is also hovering between the legal...
- 2/28/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Estonia is the latest country to select its entry for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars with the Nordic Western “The Last Ones,” directed by Veiko Õunpuu, flying the flag for the Baltic country.
The film will world premiere as part of the Baltic Competition program of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, which runs Nov. 13-29.
An expert committee called together by the Estonian Film Institute chose the film. The committee consisted of film director Tanel Toom, producers Evelin Penttilä and Ivo Felt, film journalist Tõnu Karjatse, costume designer Eugen Tamberg, former distributor and current advisor on audio-visual matters to the Minister of Culture, Siim Rohtla, and the Estonian Film Institute’s Edith Sepp.
“The Last Ones” takes place in the wild tundra of Lapland. Young miner Rupi is hollowing out the tundra in the hope of putting together enough money to leave the mining village behind forever.
The film will world premiere as part of the Baltic Competition program of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, which runs Nov. 13-29.
An expert committee called together by the Estonian Film Institute chose the film. The committee consisted of film director Tanel Toom, producers Evelin Penttilä and Ivo Felt, film journalist Tõnu Karjatse, costume designer Eugen Tamberg, former distributor and current advisor on audio-visual matters to the Minister of Culture, Siim Rohtla, and the Estonian Film Institute’s Edith Sepp.
“The Last Ones” takes place in the wild tundra of Lapland. Young miner Rupi is hollowing out the tundra in the hope of putting together enough money to leave the mining village behind forever.
- 10/30/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Estonian Film Foundation
Strong on atmosphere and angst, the multistrand drama Autumn Ball takes its time bringing together its orbiting characters, a half-dozen aching souls in a housing complex on the outskirts of Tallinn, Estonia. Although it sometimes suffers from ennui overload, the film gets under the skin, its darkly comic observations filtered through Tarkovsky, Kieslowski and Cassavetes but alive with their own bracing melancholy. Winner of the Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival and a competition selection at the recent AFI Fest, the film is sure to make an impression as it travels the fest circuit.
Writer-director Veiko Ounpuu's adaptation of Sugisball (Autumn Ball), a 1979 novel by Mati Unt, a leading literary figure of Soviet-era Estonia, is set in the pre-independence 1980s. The future-forward high-rise suburb at the center of the story, abutted by desolate fields, stands as a dated monument to the crumbling USSR. Striking lensing by Mart Taniel makes the most of the cold natural light, penetrating the facades of the well-played characters and the sad spaces they inhabit. Ulo Krigul's brooding score is a key asset as well, especially in the film's wordless stretches, like the powerful breakup scene that opens the film.
Writer Mati (Rain Tolk) stands on his apartment balcony as though poised between life and death. His farewell hug to his departing wife (Mirtel Pohla) turns into a desperate attack. Left alone, he soon embarks on a binge. When not at his typewriter in a room that appears to be constructed of books, he's out making a fool of himself at clubs.
Alcohol comforts and undoes many of the characters. Fueled by brandy, self-consciously fashionable architect Maurer (Juhan Ulfsak) is heartlessly honest with his unhappy wife, Ulvi (Tiina Tauraite). A single mother (Maarja Jakobson) fends off the blunt overtures of strangers, calming her nerves with dainty glasses of liqueur. Sobbing over the "forbidden love" of The Thorn Birds, she's unaware that her young daughter (Iris Persson) is drawn to Kaski (Sulevi Peltola), a friendless barber.
For Theo (Taavi Eelmaa), a doorman at a depressing red-curtained nightclub, the opiate of choice is sex. He tallies his one-night stands -- first name and astrological sign -- adding numbers 210 and 211 after a spirited threesome. But like most everything here, the encounter ends on a note of disconnection. In their botched, often cruel encounters, the characters are often monstrous. In their aloneness -- whether writing, dancing solo or eating breakfast -- they become more human.
Strong on atmosphere and angst, the multistrand drama Autumn Ball takes its time bringing together its orbiting characters, a half-dozen aching souls in a housing complex on the outskirts of Tallinn, Estonia. Although it sometimes suffers from ennui overload, the film gets under the skin, its darkly comic observations filtered through Tarkovsky, Kieslowski and Cassavetes but alive with their own bracing melancholy. Winner of the Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival and a competition selection at the recent AFI Fest, the film is sure to make an impression as it travels the fest circuit.
Writer-director Veiko Ounpuu's adaptation of Sugisball (Autumn Ball), a 1979 novel by Mati Unt, a leading literary figure of Soviet-era Estonia, is set in the pre-independence 1980s. The future-forward high-rise suburb at the center of the story, abutted by desolate fields, stands as a dated monument to the crumbling USSR. Striking lensing by Mart Taniel makes the most of the cold natural light, penetrating the facades of the well-played characters and the sad spaces they inhabit. Ulo Krigul's brooding score is a key asset as well, especially in the film's wordless stretches, like the powerful breakup scene that opens the film.
Writer Mati (Rain Tolk) stands on his apartment balcony as though poised between life and death. His farewell hug to his departing wife (Mirtel Pohla) turns into a desperate attack. Left alone, he soon embarks on a binge. When not at his typewriter in a room that appears to be constructed of books, he's out making a fool of himself at clubs.
Alcohol comforts and undoes many of the characters. Fueled by brandy, self-consciously fashionable architect Maurer (Juhan Ulfsak) is heartlessly honest with his unhappy wife, Ulvi (Tiina Tauraite). A single mother (Maarja Jakobson) fends off the blunt overtures of strangers, calming her nerves with dainty glasses of liqueur. Sobbing over the "forbidden love" of The Thorn Birds, she's unaware that her young daughter (Iris Persson) is drawn to Kaski (Sulevi Peltola), a friendless barber.
For Theo (Taavi Eelmaa), a doorman at a depressing red-curtained nightclub, the opiate of choice is sex. He tallies his one-night stands -- first name and astrological sign -- adding numbers 210 and 211 after a spirited threesome. But like most everything here, the encounter ends on a note of disconnection. In their botched, often cruel encounters, the characters are often monstrous. In their aloneness -- whether writing, dancing solo or eating breakfast -- they become more human.
- 11/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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