Compartment Number 6 (2021)

I have just watched this at the Mostra Internacional de São Paulo.

It feels very genuine: the acting is naturalistic and the story, simple. It's a road movie/coming of age experience that teaches us a few valuable lessons without preaching them. Also a reminder of how much we miss natural-looking people on the big screen.

Fmovies: That's a great film. Defintely. There is the classic themes of a road movie with all sorrounded by a melancholic atmosphere. The two main characters are alone and in their loneliness they find each other.

The directing choices are great with some moments that remind Tarkovskij's films. The director brings you perfectly through the spiritual trip of the main character that becomes also a spiritual trip for the audience.

Only finnish director that has won that before this was Aki Kaurismäki with The Man Without a Past 2002.

So i was very excited to see this one.

I'm always little skeptical with finnish movies.

But this ended up being very delightful movie.

Very good and beautiful story about finnish woman who travels across Russia to see petroglyphs in Murmansk.

Main part of movie is when she travels by train.

She meets russian guy and they are completely different peoples.

Their unique friendship develops beautifully.

There are also many other very different peoples who she meets in her journey.

Good and little less good peoples.

This movie has many sweet and funny moments in it.

It's mostly spoken in russian but it was very fun to hear finnish language in it too.

Very good performances from two leads definitely.

I also heard that this was chosen to be Finland's Oscar runner for foreign category.

So best of luck with that too.

Compartment Number 6 fmovies. It took time before it finally shows its true color. When it did, Compartment No. 6 is really a rewarding experience. After The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki and then this, I'm really looking forward to what's next from Juho Kuosmanen.

In Compartment No. 6, an energetic Russian man asks his Finnish train companion to teach him some Finnish words to pass the time. He is told that "Hello" and "Goodbye" sound about the same, and that "Haista vittu" means "I love you". If you're from my neck of the woods, you won't need subtitles to be amused by this (here in Sweden, we know raunchy Suomi words too well and there's even a saying that you're not 100% Swedish unless you're also 50% Finnish).

The first great film of the new movie year, Juho Kuosmanen's Compartment No. 6 (original Finnish title Hytti Nro 6) possesses a certain magic that's hard to pin-point; something that makes us utterly believe this setting and make us feel as if we've truly ventured backward in time. (I don't know for sure what year it's supposed to be but it certainly takes place after the fall of the Soviet Union and also the cassette release of Desireless' "Voyage, Voyage".)

There's just something about the image quality, sets, locations, and the look of the characters -- a certain glow to their faces -- that flawlessly evoke the 1990s. It plays like so much more than a period piece. It plays like an actual 90s film that just happened to get released in the 2020s by some decidedly odd mistake. It makes for a nostalgic experience (even if you know little of the Russian climate of the era) and nostalgia is certainly one of the film's themes.

More precisely, we follow a Finnish student in Moscow, Laura (Seidi Haarla), as she bids her friends and family farewell and goes on the Trans Siberia Express (which also featured in an episode of An Idiot Abroad that I just happened to view a few days after this because the matrix has been glitching out for me lately). It is on this long journey that she befriends a Russian drunkard named Lyokha (Yuri Borisov) and a strangely deep connection begins to take form between the two strangers -- a bond that might only be possible when two souls are forced to share the same train car for days on end, allowing for even the starkest of differences to fade from one's sight.

Glenn Kenny described the two characters as being anxious in their own different ways. They're certainly not Hollywood stars; this is precisely what makes them work.

Much like the "vintage" setting, the actors are eerily convincing. On top of the believability and old-fashioned feel of it all, the film is just plain gorgeous on a superficial level -- the colors and lighting choices are superb and the cinematography is in perfect coordination with the actors, even when the camera is forced to follow them through cramped and lively settings (without the operator falling over or getting stuck on some Russian guy's shoelace). It's just a damn fine piece of filmmaking on a technical level that gets at something sweet when you look deeper and more closely.

I mentioned before that Compartment No. 6 was the first banger of the year, but I realize this isn't quite true. The first movie I watched this year was the Norwegian dramedy The Worst Person in the World, which I loved even more. I'm actually saving that review for my annual #KeepingUpWithTheOscars marathon, as I'm certain it will appear amongst the Best International Feature nominees.

See, I'm trying to avoid a repeat of last year, where I had already watched and/or reviewed the likes of Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, et cetera before the nominees we

Finland's official entry to 2022's Oscars, that made it to the shortlist, is beautiful, simple and genuine. The relationship between the leads is so unique and likable. Their performances are superb and their characters are catchy too. The film also tackles interesting topics like passion, relationships and trust. It's sensational but also sometimes feels empty and flat.