Musta jää

I don't know and I kinda guess the characters don't know either. It's more like not willing to lose something, than to actually love it/him/her. You could also say, Love is in the air ... but somehow no one can touch it.

While it has it's comedic moments too, it's more a (black) drama. At first you might guess where this is going, it seems to go the usual path that any movie with a plot like this goes (look for the plot summary, if you will, I won't spoil anything), but it does turn out to change it's path. Sometime the changes are very ridiculous, so you might have to stay with it. If you click out at some of the outrageous plot changes, you won't like the movie. The end is complete out-there (i.e. crazy), but the movie builds up to that point, so it's not a complete surprise. Still some might be shocked/appalled by it ...

One of the better commercial Finnish films of the last decade, "Musta jää" is a tight love triangle with unexpectable plot line. At many times (and quite surprisingly) it is almost hitchcockian in atmosphere, as you always know a little bit more than any of the characters - and in the end, the whole plot seems to be about masquerade à la "North by Northwest" or "Vertigo", with one of the main characters slowly turning into the character he/she performs.

Although the film suffers from few unnecessary sex scenes (not counting the over-the-top lesbian scene!) and quite unimpressive soundtrack, the film as a whole stands out as a remarkable effort. Kotwika has the patience to tell his story mainly through his fine actors and actresses, not through the images - the patience lacking from most modern film directors. He also explains the motives of his characters through their actions and expressions, not through their words. Kotwika seems to have some virtues of an old-time filmmaker, who still believes in his audiences intelligence. In that sense, his film hasn't appear a minute too soon on our Finnish screens.

Musta Jaa's dark triangle thriller definitely got my attention with its suspense and twists, but for a country that views women as powerful, this film did a wonderful job of showing them as weak. Perhaps I hold the Scandinavian countries to a higher standard when it comes to social liberalism, but for a movie made in 2007, I do not like its messages. Why are these women victims? Sara should have left her husband immediately, and Tuuli set herself up for a lifestyle of insecurity and unhappiness. Kotwica claims that he wanted two powerful female leads, well Petri, these ladies were pathetic. This movie makes me NOT want to go to Finland, that's for sure.

It seems that Kotwica is trying to get us close to both Saara and Tuuli. His portrayal of Tuuli encourages the viewer to be sympathetic towards her. Long takes, using a close up shot show her crying and miserable. EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS DATING A MARRIED MAN! This girl is young and beautiful, and she goes after some pock faced homely professor who is "so intelligent" and truly "appreciates her art." Barf! Physical appearance is obviously not the issue here; I just felt like being descriptive. The fact is Tuuli is stupid, ignorant, and epitomizes everything a female should not be. No matter how well you do in school or how great of a citizen you are, sleeping with someone's husband makes you dumb. At the end of the movie, I was crying! I was so happy that Saara helped Tuuli. I wanted her to live, and I felt sorry for her. Then, I thought about it, and realized that she is dating/dated a married man. Duh. I believe in second chances, I do, but Kotwica made me forget everything immoral about Tuuli's character. There were even times when I thought Sara was the annoying one.

Let's look at a more positive aspect of Finland. Gender equality! Both Saara and Tuuli are women with good economic standing. Saara is a doctor, showing that she has had many years of education, while Tuuli is currently studying art at the university. Their roles in society seem to portray gender egalitarianism. This portrayal is quite accurate, as Finnish women tend to have full time jobs and have equal rights in the labor market (Arber and Lahelma, 125). In fact, women have historically participated in the labor force. For example, in 1950, 41% of women were employed (Arber and Lahelma, 123). This was possibly the one good thing these women had going for them, but what good is gender equality in the schools and work place when your significant other is a cheating, shallow a. hole?

Maybe the consumption of alcohol is a contributor in the poor behavior of these females. We saw Tuuli and pretend Saara go out on two occasions and drink heavily. Sara banged a German exchange student half her age, and Tuuli often cried over her gross married boyfriend. In Substance Abuse (2001), Bloomfield, Gmel, Neve and Mustonen found a large increase in alcohol consumption among Finnish women since 1970. They believe that the egalitarian society causes women to adopt behaviors, such as drinking, from males because they are "increasingly moving into professions and/or lifestyles similar to those of men" (39).

Perhaps these are issues that Kotwica wants to address, because it sounds like drinking and infidelity is a prevalent issue in Finland. If his intentions were to prove that this type of lifestyle is unjust and immoral, then yes, I agree with him. My one question I still must continue to ask is: why make Tuuli so innocent? She is a woman who should be able to recognize that her choices are bad for her well being. Is this how Finland views infidelity? I'm not a religious person, so I do not believe adultery is sin, but I think marriage requires commitment between two individuals. Two people in a marriage should have enough respect for each other not to cheat! How about a divorce???? Legally, they're fairly easy to get in Finland.

Honestly, I did not hate Musta Jää. It was exciting and had exquisite cinematography, and I always enjoy a film with an unpredictable plot line. And for the record, I am not opposed to traveling to Finland. I know better than to judge a country by one representation. However, the two women angered me, a lot.

Bibliography

Arber, Sara and Eero Lahelma. (1993). "Women, Paid Employment and Ill-Health in Britain and Finland". Acta Sociologica. Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 121-138. Sage Publications.

Bloomfield, Kim, Gerhard Gmel, Rudie Neve and Heli Mustonen. (2001). "Investigating Gender Convergence in Alcohol Consumption in Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland: A Repeated Survey Analysis". Substance Abuse. Vol. 22, No. 1.

Musta Jää is a dark and cold love triangle and at times quite humorous one. It makes you laugh the first moment and the second it gives you the chills. Director Petri Kotwica clearly had no rush making this, because it seem so well finished, with not much faults. The only thing that I think didn't work all the time was the score. It is a score by a talented cello player from Apocalyptica, but it was playing maybe a bit too much during the movie. It's a minor minus, but not a big one.

All the actors are just fantastic, and the characters are very interesting. Outi Mäenpää is one of the best finnish actresses and she plays Saara, who finds out her husband is cheating on her. It happens the day she turns 40. Husband Leo is played by Martti Suosalo, a very fine actor too. Leo is having an affair with his student, 29 year old Tuuli (Ria Kataja). Saara starts planning a revenge, that is megalomanic and wonderful to watch, she even creates herself a new identity for it. The plot twists are not stunning but very entertaining and well made.

Movie is good looking too, visually. I think it's not a bit lower than the European medium of cinema. In my opinion it is by far the best finnish movie made in last few years, with Kaurismäki's Laitakaupungin Valot of course. This makes Petri Kotwica one of the most interesting new finnish directors. And this proves he's a great writer too. Movie has a lot of small little things - of acting, characters, cinematography, dialog - that are just genius, not really that much seen in finnish cinema. Much of it happens in Saara's mind. Not that much that you could analyze it like Ingmar Bergman's Persona (which has some fine similarities), but still some. The whole masquerade sequence is one of the things i like a lot too.

I recommend Musta Jää to people who like a well written, well acted and well directed little dark but cleverly humorous European, almost an art film-like cinema. Not for ones who dislike semi-low tempo, and too intelligent structure.

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER, the Finnish movie "Black Ice" (Kotwica) thrilled us in 2008. A dangerous love triangle that goes from bad to worse is filled with deception, suspense and an imminent cat-fight. The main three actors were picked perfectly for their roles; Saara (Outi Mäenpää) is a middle aged doctor who seems to be happily married to Leo (Martti Suosalo) who is an architect/professor. Leo is having an affair with the much younger Tuuli (Ria Kataja) who happens to be one of his students. Saraa becomes suspicious of her husband as she finds a packet of condoms missing. By pure luck while visiting Leo after a rough day at work she stumbles upon an inappropriate email Leo received from a student which happens to be Tuuli. Instead of confronting Leo like an average, sane human being she decides to do a little investigating and follows her around. Tuuli leads her to a gym where she teaches KARATE!! This scene immediately put a smile on my face because I for saw an epic cat fight. Saraa decides to take Tuuli's karate class and after class she hides Tuuli's bike so she'll need a ride home. After this point these two women are inseparable as Saraa creates a new identity to prevent Tuuli from finding out who she is. Get ready for the deception and interconnecting story lines as the three take turns hanging out with each other.

Deception is the most reoccurring theme seen throughout the movie mostly between Tuuli and Saraa. Saraa befriends Tuuli so she can learn first hand about her relationship with Leo and possibly save the marriage. This was a great twist in the story because you have the Antagonist and Protagonist together but only one is aware of the truth. Saraa does a great job convincing Tuuli how genuine she is but really has an agenda the whole time. Throughout the movie they have some close encounters with Leo which kept me in anticipation for when the truth would come out. For me the interactions between Saraa the wife and Tuuli the home wrecking college girl are what really make this movie.

There is also a love triangle that also goes with the deception in this Finnish flick. As Tuuli's relationship with Leo disintegrates she becomes more and more dependant on Saraa and her companionship. Tuuli and Saraa start hanging out a lot and this creates tension between Tuuli and Leo by causing Leo to become jealous. This is the result of Leo finding a used condom in Tuuli's room from when Saraa had sex the night before. Tuuli calls Saraa to have her explain to Leo what happen because he didn't believe her.

I think its safe to say that the name of the movie was a theme in itself as black ice in real life is dangerous and misleading like the characters in this movie. Black ice is transparent so when driving it looks like the road is fine but actually it's covered by a slippery sheet of ice. Just like in the movie on the outside the characters seem fine but underneath they have serious issues.

While watching the opening scene of the movie for a second time I realized how important it is because it introduces the three main characters that eventually get wrapped up in a love triangle. This scene helps set the belief to the audience that Saara and Leo are very passionate and still in the honeymoon phase. As you watch the movie you find out that this is very misleading and the director does a great job setting this up. Also, I think the end of the clip is where Leo crashes his car and eventually walks off and freezes to death. So with that being said the settings in the 1st scene are actually the same as one of the last. The ending caught me off guard but in a good way and I think it was a fitting way to end it, so if you're looking for a happy ending look some where else.

The camera shots to me were very dramatic in this scene especially seeing it for the second time. In one scene you have two people having passionate sex and in the other a girl riding her bike in the cold winter. The focus of the camera during the sex scene uses a lot of close ups on the limbs of the couple showing how intense it is, it goes from sex to heavy foreplay and then to Saraa's face showing her enjoyment. All this is going on as Tuuli is riding the through the winter and the camera follows her journey while showing glimpses of her face as she struggles through the harsh weather.

"Black Ice" is a very interesting and entertaining movie that is worth watching more than once and would have success in America if redone in English. Watching two woman compete for the love of one man is an idea intriguing enough just to watch it and I guarantee this movie will not disappoint.