Joonatanin evankeliumi

This ambitious though not entirely successful amateur drama gives a rather metaphysical spin on the usual story of four young adults dealing with the big questions of serious relationships, honesty and fidelity. It uses the characters' different views on religious faith – agnostic, cautiously sceptical and Newtonian Christian – as a metaphor for trust and commitment, and, more interestingly, the device of a misdirected telephone call as one for loss and forgiveness. The treatment is not very profound or subtle, as all this is mostly worked out through a lot of rather obvious dialogue, but the amateur cast perform it surprisingly smoothly and professionally, keeping the characters believable and the sedate narrative from grinding to a halt.

More than the plot, the film stands out for its self-consciously stylised and polished visuals. It comes across as a series of carefully thought out, static tableaux with some pointedly elegant close-ups and pans and one nice visual metaphor that works more effectively than lot of the entry-level philosophy of the dialogue. This imbues the film with solemn beauty that can keep the interest up even after the plot has exhausted itself. There is real skill and potential for better things behind this earnest attempt.