Tony Patriarche Superficially just another Scandinavian twist on the teen coming-of-age sex movie, I think there is genuinely a deeper level of interpretation. This odd film reminded me inevitably a little of Sex, Lies and Videotape - but the subtext is a much more general social commentary on the issues of privacy and personal freedom. The larger cast expand the personal issues to the social context without losing intensity in individual performances.As a North American, I feel slightly disconnected from the European society -- we do not (yet) have surveillance cameras on every street corner. Nevertheless many places from banks to 24-hour grocery stores already use video surveillance, most cell-phones now come with an integrated camera, the web-cam is a common household appliance, and sex has become a spectator sport perhaps more than at any time in previous history. It is easy to say that my freedom ends where your privacy and right to security begin -- but it is not always so easy to find that point in our complex, crowded, fearful 21st century society.Be warned: The sex scenes are numerous, explicit, and grittily realistic -- a far cry from the blurred-lens romance of the soft porn of most North American or British adult movies, or the extreme absurdity of so-called hard porn. I found this verismo refreshing in an odd way, although many may find it disturbing, especially in a film about late teens or twenty-somethings.My one regret is that one of the subtext messages seemed to be one common to many movies: Young people can have sex, but they will be punished for it. Whatever the truth of this philosophy, it is an older person's perspective, which to me jarred with the viewpoint of the film, told almost entirely from the teenagers POV.Although no totally new ground is broken here, I think this film is worth at least a good first look and perhaps a second viewing.

omarsamra This film will catch you unawares. I felt that the film would be a risqué and rather typical coming of age film. It has all these variants but to a deeper degree. I actually finished the film and was extremely upset with all the male characters. They were willing to throw away their sufficient lives for the thrills of voyeurism. Jere especially. The other reviewer talked about how the camera was the source of all evil in this movie. After all it was how Tavvi found out the truth about his parents death and was the eventual downfall for two out of the four male characters. This film is not recommended for the lighthearted, and you how you will feel after the movie is totally up in the air. I was rather disgusted with their little game, but just my opinion. As for the way the movie was shot; it was done well the angles, the characters were somewhat believable....a decent film overall.

Jon This movie is a tad better than the user ratings indicate. Perhaps some were hoping for porn, and came away disappointed--although there is plenty of nudity, there is nothing to titillate--this is a moving and cautionary tale of spiritual emptiness."Young Gods" is the ironically-titled film that examines the vapid world of mesmerizing images we live in, when there's no guidance for spiritual context. We experience this confusion through the eyes (and lenses) of four Finnish boys, all recent high-school graduates. Taavi has just inherited his deceased father's mansion and wealth, but has blocked out the memory of his death, and moves through life at a distance, viewing everything possible through his camcorder's viewfinder. Jere is emotionally dead. He has a girlfriend and finds comfort in sex, but is unable to open his heart. Sami, homely and overweight, has zero self-esteem. Markus is very immature, but otherwise fairly well-adjusted.The four make an odd pact to film their sexual conquests, and the four find themselves living in an even more illusory meta-world, as their desire to film sex takes precedence over their actual desires, and recording an event becomes secondary to experiencing life. They all seem to lack a father who can teach them about love and loving, and are left to float down a river of sex and imagery without a clue to its purpose. (Jere's father is no help: he's a pornographer, coolly composing loveless sex scenes as though creating a grocery display.) Slowly, the consequences of their pact begin changing them as it brings out the yearning, emptiness, violence, or love that is really within their hearts.

gradyharp Walk down any street in metropolitan areas and the omnipresence of the Big Brother camera is frightening: cell phones now capture all manner of images from friendly to horrific, cameras at stores' entries scan customers like a police state, police have license plate detecting cameras on their vehicles, strolling youngsters and tourists have the ubiquitous camcorders recording sights and other people's privacy - the list is endless. This strangely mesmerizing film 'HYMYPOIKA' (Young Gods) from Finland addresses these facts and builds a story around just how invasive and destructive the personal hand-held video camera has become. '1984'? Yes, in many ways it is.Director Jukka-Pekka Siili has taken an idea from Jaajo Linnonmaa, passed it through screenwriter Jukka Vieno, and though Jarkko T. Laine is credited as the cinematographer, Siili records this story as though he were the one holding the intrusive camera. The technical aspects of the film - black and white into color into white noise screen into abrupt movement, odd angles, etc - are a strategically important aspect of the film's success.Taavi (Jussi Nikkilä),the enigmatic 18-year-old lead, has just inherited his long-deceased wealthy parents home and estate. It is high school graduation and Taavi's birthday, and after his fiends greet him au natural and are arrested (the policewoman Helena Pääkkönen - Laura Malmivaara - is attractive and forgiving), Taavi invites his friends to the mansion for a wild party. Taavi lives with a recording camera to his eye, a machine that allows his to keep interpersonal distance from everyone. Among his friends are Jere (Reino Nordin) who considers himself a woman's man, Markus (Jarkko Niemi) who appears the well-adjusted one, and chubby, pierced Sami (Ville Kivelä) whose sexuality is ambiguous. The party gets wild, guests sleep around, and Taavi records it all! When Taavi's friends discover his deed, a pact is made: each of the four young men will videotape their own sexual encounter. This contest begins innocently enough for the boys, but when the girls photographed en flagrante discover the ploy, anger erupts and varying degrees of tragedy occur. As with many invasive games, this contest progresses to humiliation, rape, and worse, and finally leads to the truth about Taavi's secrets about his parents and his own personality disorder - all focused on the video camera as the source of evil.The film is daring, entertaining, frightening, cruel and dissecting all at once. While many may dismiss this as just another example of foreign film exploitational technique, there is much more to the story than meets the first encounter. Siili has uncovered truths about our current preoccupation with privacy invasion and they are loudly criticized here. This unrated movie is not a film for the squeamish, but it is a significant statement that needed to be made. Grady Harp