Teuvo Tulio is one of the most revered of the Finnish film directors, but his oeuvre is a mixed bag. Even in his best films there's an element of high camp, with crazy plotlines, wild characters, hazy motifs and incoherent editing. There's still a very strong vision of a human being controlled by his/her lust. Tulio made some of his best films during the expressionist-styled film noir era, i.e. in the fourties and the fifties, and it's fitting his films could be labelled film noirs. It's interesting to note that many of his films deal with sadomasochism and they were written by a woman - Regina Linnanheimo, who also acted in the films she wrote. And she could be a sultry baby! Such is the case with Sellaisena kuin sinä minut halusit (The Way You Wanted Me, 1952), a story of an innocent girl who makes an illicit child and tries to make a living in a big city. The simple story is done with some visual verve and some very nice noirish sets and scenes, but the ending is too abrupt. Here's a better text about the film in English, and this link leads you to the Berkeley University film screening of Tulio's films.
More Overlooked Films at Todd Mason's blog here.
4 comments:
Cool. All new to me...and I'll try to slip this one into next week's list, as well, since so many visitors will have missed it by now for this week...
Yeah, I meant to write it yesterday, but forgot. I'll probably do another film next week, so just let it pass.
Interesting that his late film SENSUELA seems to echo this one, at least in dialog and perhaps theme...
Sensuela is a really wild one, you should seek it out. It's probably the sleaziest movie in Finnish history and also the campiest, close to a real turkey.
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