Redundant and unnecessary.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

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.

Based on a highly acclaimed 1980 novel, Concrete Night is a bleak coming of age drama set in a grim and rundown housing ghetto in Helsinki. Fourteen year old Simo (Johannes Brotherus) is reluctantly forced to spend the night in the company of his older brother Ilkka (Jari Virman), who is due to go to jail the next day. During the night he learns some harsh lessons about relationships, trust, family, and the comfort of strangers. He also seems fascinated by the mysterious photographer who lives in a neighbouring apartment, which leads to a fateful and life changing encounter. The film is a look at teenage malaise, urban decay and failed dreams, and former cinematographer turned director Pirjo Honkaslao suffuses the material with strong homo-erotic undercurrents. The drama takes place at night in a city that is often drenched in rain, and the cold and vaguely industrial looking setting is also grim and inhospitable. The film has been shot in glorious, moody black and white by cinematographer Peter Flinckenberg, which adds further to the bleak, ominous and occasionally claustrophobic tone. This poetic monochromatic approach also gives the film a visually stunning surface and a gritty realism reminiscent of 50s surrealist cinema. Concrete Night is also suffused with a palpable sense of impending doom. In his first leading role Brotherus delivers a superb performance as the troubled, vulnerable and naive Simo, and often his internal emotional conflicts can be seen playing out on his face as he tries to come to terms with his own identity.

Helsinki. Wrong side of the bay. What's in it for you? Your mother is a suspect prostitute and your brother is soon going to jail. You chose your brother.The sibling plot is well-known from Hollywood, but here it's completely without make-up. The 14-year-old desperately wants another meaning in life after he's left childhood. The destructive living is so seductive. Dignity means giving in.Strong drama because it's so realistic. No big evil here, just an evil path leading to hell or to something before that. A movie to be recommended, even if it doesn't make you feel good. A cold gray wind all over the place