KobusAdAstra Young Simo's (Johannes Brotherus) older brother Ilkka (Jari Virman) is to start a prison sentence for a minor crime the following day. We share their 24 hours together before Ilkka leaves for prison. Their mother is more focused on her social life than spending this last evening with her sons. Yet she instructs Simo to keep his older brother company. While rain intermittently sifts over grey Helsinki, the two brothers go to the city center for some fun, a drink or two. Back at their apartment a bored Simo goes out and starts chatting with the gay photographer living across the street. He invites Simo in, shows him some Wilhelm Von Gloeden prints and asks to photograph Simo. This would have serious consequences… This black-and-white film has a nihilistic, despairing mood like few others. This is a film of no hope: "If you're free of hope, you're free of everything", we are informed. Another movie sharing this ambiance is Lars Von Trier's unsettling 'Antichrist'. The theme of hopelessness is also explored in the excellent Macedonian film 'Mirage' (also known as 'Iluzija', 'Eat or be Eaten' or 'Seasons of Hope') by Svetozar Ristovski. It becomes more than just hopelessness. In a disconcerting misanthropic vision the extinction of man is predicted, with scorpions and other lower order animals taking our place. This sombre theme of hopelessness is captured effectively in monochrome visuals, where the contrast between light and dark is accentuated, with little grey in-between. Some of the scenes are presented as nightmarish visions, without any chance of escape. Whether you are trapped in a train carriage after the train derailed and plunged into a deep river, or whether you caused serious and irreversible harm to somebody, there is no escape. The nightmare becomes real. I found the acting quite good. Although Simo is not a very talkative fellow, his body language and facial expressions in particular, say a lot. Simo, an introvert, is a true outsider. The more vocal Ilkka and their mother, and the photographer, give fine performances too. The soundtrack, mostly of classical nature, effectively adds to the gloomy ambiance of the film. This film's strengths however, are the excellent, unusual narrative, and especially the outstanding cinematography. Credit to cinematographer Peter Flinckenberg. Several of the scenes are surreal, such as the footage of the train in the river, with jellyfish swimming past; also the scenes when downy feathers drop from the sky or of Simo wiping the misted-up mirror clean. What attention to detail! 'Concrete Night' offers a lot of food for thought and is a film I will watch again. I score it a very good 8/10.

thunderwall Concrete Night was selected to represent its country at the Oscars and was seen by as few as 9 555 persons in the cinemas. A quite interesting combination. Didn't make it there.The movie is all about visual language and soul. I recognize some elements of high value. Director Pirjo Honkasalo uses her actors like she played them as instruments and directs amazingly. The actors' task is to expose soul more than anything, but something keeps me from playing along and I don't warm up for this world. That part must connect when there isn't a mentionable plot to capture my interest.It's like the movie is teaching its viewer to ignore intuition and surrender to concrete... and leaving it to the viewer to understand the educational value of this. Art in its deepest form, ladies and gentlemen.

KyrKyr The movie follows one day in the life of Simo, a fourteen year old teenager who lives with his anti-heroic mother and older brother, Ilkka. The one last day of freedom of his brother before he serve his prison sentence.The two brothers go out at (concrete) night in Helsinki. Simo, with elastic and reciprocating character as a teenager, clearly mimicking his older brother and in a brief conversation between him, Ilkka turns vanity and pessimism of living into a philosophy through a story about scorpions as the only surviving specie in an upcoming apocalyptic day (talking about greedy mankind and nuclear threat) Later in the film Simo comes across with a photographer. The personification of joy and love in life on the face of a homosexual pervert photographer, symbolizes Simo's seeking of meaningful life on his youth but as it turns out his elastic mind is fundamentally infected (from his way of life) and he commits murder (turns down joy and hope) On his way home a taxi driver offers him a ride. The taxi driver is the mirror of himself as he sees his life passes before his eyes from the innocent youth (laughs) to his recent crime and he tries to escape from his "downfall" (open the door as the car keeps moving, maybe suicide)and himself says "don't never do that again" At the end he realizes the monster he became. "The scorpions are coming, the end is coming. If you still hope you will never be free. And if they have enough they stub themselves to death" A simple view on the lost innocence of a teenager, following philosophic and symbolic paths and how growing up in a problematic family can affect fundamentally the formation of his character and his presence or absence in a society. Meaningful, artistic and declaratory movie.

gj62 Even that I'm a big fan of unknown movies, this one couldn't convince me at all. This story about two brothers and their mother living in a city somewhere. One committed a crime and has to pay for it. The younger brother soon to be left alone with their mother, who lives in some sort of fantasy and has a drinking problem. The younger brother coming of age and wanting to have his brother's approval.The biggest problem I had with this movie is the way the director wanted to make it look sad. The black and white filming, the sad buildings where they live, skies being dark all the time, sparse lighting at night. The lighting coming from aside instead of from above. A rabbit walking on the city streets at night. A toad being near one of the characters. Water or rain falling down nice visible in the light, like in slow motion. Very little talk. It was all too much for me. The story could have been told in a other way, making the same points.