Young Love

Available on DVD

Finland 2001 colour 80min Mainstream Pictures

**½

Drama

cast: Joonas Nordman (Jukka), Saija Lentonen (Johanna), Sari Havas (mother), Anna-Leena Härkönen, Pekka Lukka, Jarmo Mäkinen
credits: dir. and script Arto Lehkamo, DOP Johann Sigfusson, music Teropekka Virtanen (songs by Paleface, Darude, Heikki Sarmanto, Kemopetrol etc.)

As the title tells, this is a story of young love. Jukka is about 13 years old when he falls in love with Johanna. Johanna, who is almost twenty, has an evil father and no trust in herself. Jukka wants to help her and one way to do it is to make Johanna as beauty model. But does Johanna want to love him and be a "star" of catwalks?

The main problem of this movie may be that it wants to be too realistic, but the same time the story is full of cliches. It also has very bookish dialogue, which may not be a big deal for people who don't speak the language but to them who do... The actors are pretty good anyway, and the soundtrack is kind of okay. But that's just not enough to make this film anything big.

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