Hytti nro 6

Only finnish director that has won that before this was Aki Kaurismäki with The Man Without a Past 2002.

So i was very excited to see this one.

I'm always little skeptical with finnish movies.

But this ended up being very delightful movie.

Very good and beautiful story about finnish woman who travels across Russia to see petroglyphs in Murmansk.

Main part of movie is when she travels by train.

She meets russian guy and they are completely different peoples.

Their unique friendship develops beautifully.

There are also many other very different peoples who she meets in her journey.

Good and little less good peoples.

This movie has many sweet and funny moments in it.

It's mostly spoken in russian but it was very fun to hear finnish language in it too.

Very good performances from two leads definitely.

I also heard that this was chosen to be Finland's Oscar runner for foreign category.

So best of luck with that too.

Compartment Number 6 is superficially a bleak 'Russian' railRoad film largely centered on a mismatched couple thrown together in a train compartment travelling from Moscow to Murmansk. I gather it was largely filmed in Russia, Moscow, but is directed by the Finnish, Juho Kuosmanen, who had previous success in Cannes and then shared the grand Prix there in 2021 for this effort, (with "A Hero"). It is from a Finnish novel by Rosa Liksom.

I like bleak "Russian" films (They are unpredictable, often very well done and more like my impression of life -) and this didn't disappoint. Laura is an older Finnish student, having an affair with her landlady in Moscow, circa the 90's. Landlady may be over the affair and has pulled out of a planned trip the 2 were making to see petraglyphs in Murmansk (these are 1000 year + old rock carvings and sound fascinating. Go in summer and maybe by plane.) So Laura decides to go anyway. After an uncomfortable pseudo-sophisticated farewell party where the gauche Laura tries hard but flails and seems out of place with the neat pretentious guests, she joins the train heading north to Murmansk. Russian winter. To her dismay she finds sharing the cabin is a boorish, rude, heavy drinking, Russian miner Ljoha (Yuri Borisov) heading back up there to his mine. She cant get another cabin. So there they are - both in their way lacking social graces and pretty dysfunctional. And you can compare these 2, with the earlier relaxed members of society at the party.

The Acting particularly of the lead couple is excellent as is direction and the filming in and out of the train. Bleak and rough but also in some way sweet. I liked it.

A Finnish romance of sorts about a woman whose first negative impressions of her fellow train compartment passenger make way for warmer feelings as she gets to know him.

I think "Compartment No. 6" is a lot about the importance of being open to new experiences and the rashness inherent in instantly forming judgements about people. The female protagonist in this movie studies anthropology because she feels like knowing our history is important to understanding who we are now. But is it really? In a cultural and sociological sense, probably. But at the individual level, when does attachment to the past interfere with living in the present?

There's a great scene in this movie that takes place after a fellow Finn, a tall strapping guy with a guitar no less, is crooning songs to the woman as he crashes in their compartment for a bit, and she looks out the window to see the off-kilter Russian who has set her on edge standing out on the train platform punching and kicking snowballs. In that moment, we get what she's feeling, because we feel it to. Yeah, the Finnish guy is good looking and "safe," but he's also boring. The Russian guy is weird and maybe crazy, but he's different, and sometimes different is exactly what you need.

Grade: A-

Finland's official entry to 2022's Oscars, that made it to the shortlist, is beautiful, simple and genuine. The relationship between the leads is so unique and likable. Their performances are superb and their characters are catchy too. The film also tackles interesting topics like passion, relationships and trust. It's sensational but also sometimes feels empty and flat.

I have just watched this at the Mostra Internacional de São Paulo.

It feels very genuine: the acting is naturalistic and the story, simple. It's a road movie/coming of age experience that teaches us a few valuable lessons without preaching them. Also a reminder of how much we miss natural-looking people on the big screen.