18/11/2024 - Teemu Nikki’s drunken comedy with elements of ethnic exoticism and a dose of local pride makes fun of habits, traumas and stereotypes

In the spirit of his other comedies, particularly the appealing The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö
interview: Teemu Nikki, Jani Pösö an…
film profile] and Death Is a Problem for the Living, incredibly prolific Finnish director Teemu Nikki once again deals with his favourite misfits whose lives are anything but smooth and are therefore filled with suspense. His newest attempt, 100 Litres of Gold [+see also:
interview: Teemu Nikki
film profile], currently locking horns in the International Competition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, delves into addictions and the tangled, often disastrous relationships between neighbours, relatives and casual acquaintances, reminding us that nothing and no one is perfect – and that sometimes, the spice of life lies precisely in accepting this reality.

“You can’t fire someone because of a hangover! Half of Finland would be unemployed if a hangover got you fired,” brags Pirkko (a convincing Elina Knihtilä) as she raises a mug of beer, fresh from being kicked out of her farming job – and even the local choir – for showing up drunk. Together with her sister Taina (Pirjo Lonka), both edging into the grumpier side of a midlife crisis, she’s famous for brewing the strongest and finest unfiltered beer, sahti, better than anyone else in their idyllic part of the Finnish countryside. One fine day, the third sister, Päivi (Ria Kataja) – whom they both feel a sense of guilt towards because of a tragic car accident in the past, which naturally happened under the influence of alcohol – arrives to introduce her fiancé and orders 100 litres of good home brew for her upcoming wedding. Pirkko and Taina sober up only briefly at the prospect of showcasing their skills in front of the family, and especially their demanding father, only to plunge back into a blissful binge when the beer they have brewed for the wedding turns out to be the tastiest they've ever made. The rest of the film follows their frantic scramble to make up for the amount they’ve consumed, with the clock ticking down inexorably towards the ceremony – literally displayed on screen.

Crafting a rhythmic, guffaw-inducing plot centred on characters with toxic habits and plagued by adverse circumstances isn’t enough on its own to make a great comedy – something Nikki apparently knows very well. What makes 100 Litres of Gold stand out is its unique local flavour, rooted in the quirks and peculiarities of Finnish culture. The chubby and self-protectively rude Pirkko is followed around by her persistent suitor Hauki (Ville Tiihonen), whom she doesn't allow to be much more than a beer pourer, but this reinforces her image as a stereotypically strong Nordic woman. And overall, all of the characters look like people who love each other but who need to quarrel in order to feel closer – a dynamic that might be hard to understand for outsiders, yet which is an abundantly clear part of the local ethnocultural specificity. What adds to the overall favourable perception of the film, while stepping outside of the conventional image of the ice-cold North, is that the entire action takes place in summer. This allows DoP Jarmo Kiuru to play with soft colours in the yellow-orange range, complemented by warm filters that blur the view and close one’s eyes to possible oversights in the script.

100 Litres of Gold was produced by Finland’s It’s Alive Films and Italy's TCB - The Culture Business.