“They’re defrosting him”
My friend Chris: not big on Christmas. Proper bah-humbuggy in fact. So as his this-is-not-a-Christmas-present-I-just-chose-this-time-of-year-to-thank-you-for-your-friendship gift I surprised him with a trip to see Rare Exports as a fairly anti-Christmas treat.
The set-up is as follows:
Santa is not who you think he is. He is far keener on punishing the naughty children than in rewarding the good. A young boy, Pietari, gets it into his head that the man behind the myth is about to be released from his mountain prison and sets about protecting his house and trying to persuade the locals that he is not just a kid with an excellent imagination.
I was expecting a horror movie but instead it is much more of a kid’s adventure story. Pietari is the leader of the crusade against Santa and his story is very much the centre of the film. The plot is fairly simple (taken from two YouTube shorts: Rare Exports Inc and The Official Rare Exports Inc Safety Instructions) and even at 83 minutes it feels a bit lightweight for the length but, that being said, there are many element of this film that made it a very enjoyable watch. The richness of the cinematography makes every close-up/slow motion shot/extended zoom worth watching and the lighting is used to great effect in the frozen wilds of Finland. The score is also excellent with soaring boy sopranos and lush strings playing off against fairly sparse scoring elsewhere. The film is very comedic – almost every moment I expected to be frightening turned out to be a lead up to a witty punch line – and the script is played beautifully by the small cast. Onni Tommila as Pietari has one of the cutest faces I have ever seen and he gives an excellent performance as the little boy facing his fears.
A bit lightweight but enjoyable and witty – 7/10
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