Kid Svensk (2007)

Genre: Coming-of-age
Theme: Adolescence
Undercurrent: Reconciliation
Language: Finnish/Swedish
English title: That special summer
Watched: On Youtube

A smart and spontaneous pre-teen girl  Kirsi aka Kid (by Miia Saarinen) and her mother, Ester  (by Milka Ahlroth), understand each other in a challenging time of their lives. Having lost her father (most likely by drowning), the Ruotsalainen family is broken. Ester has lost her drive and has gone into a shell. The pre-teen girl feels alone and embarrassed of her mother. How they find happiness and reconcile to it forms the story.

Dr. Nanna Huolman, the writer-director of the movie, has scripted a well researched and honest account of what adolescence is like. The crossover of it with the struggle of a personal loss has been presented brilliantly. Kirsi is insecure with her mother, often annoyed at her lack of zeal. She turns to shoplifting, stealing and becomes a snob. In between, she also finds friendship and love with her more rational and sensitive childhood friend Jamppe (by Jim Rautiainen).

The script takes the hot seat in the movie. Shot in very few locations that are repetitive, the onus of carrying the movie was fully on the interactions that are shown within the main cast. The movie runs with a strong essence of childish sexuality that borders innocence, but was always held behind the struggle for the acceptance of self. To stand on such a line takes effort, as there are scenes of children curious about each other's bodily changes up to touching each other. And also scenes where the girl is shouting at her mother, while lying down on the road and crying aloud. To keep both the lines together in the child but separate in the story to ensure smooth going is special. Sexuality is shown as a discovery and an important realization for pre-teens/early teens, that goes all through their vibe, metallic music and thought through the age. So are misunderstanding, ungratefulness and insecurity with the family and related associations. The fact that I could understand a movie that is rooted in between cultures (Finnish and Swedish) far alien to me shows the universal appeal of the subject. The picture above is a scene where Kirsi tears off some flowers to express her frustration at Jamppe's disapproval of their dare, which she has fully enjoyed but he couldn't. The scene from the frame above stood out special as her mood shifts so suddenly that is typical of a teenager, one that decides on whether she is laughing in a bed of flowers or tearing them apart in tears. The understanding from each scene is even more special as I have seen this without the guiding light of background music. In fact, I have watched this movie without any sound due to a technical problem but still it was a very nice experience.

My favorite scene is that of Kirsi reuniting with her mother in the lake. Her realization of mom's value at the border of suicide and infinite fear is also natural and universal. She also accepts her Finnish village background and her mom's love interests at that very instant, magically. That is the downside of the film. One of the more important part of this is for Kirsi to feel what is around her, embrace the people and culture to respect it. She is totally capable of that as is shown by her experiences with the radio and her sharp writing skills. That is all left as a subsidiary to mom's love and that it is. Mother is also warmer at the end by giving her daughter the recorder and a surprise party. Happy ending is a very important trait of all coming-of-age movies as the audiences deeply fall for it.

The performances of all the artists are good, enough to evoke the emotion that the director wanted. I particularly like the weakness portrayed by Milka Ahlroth in the mother's role. For example, the frame on the left is from a scene where she is hesitant of taking the phone, afraid of her inability to understand or speak Swedish. The shot requires her to emote through her body which she does so perfectly. Miia Sarainen needed more expression from her face that could go well with her superb body language. At times, the character is lost as she doesn't look up into the camera. The rest of the cast is strong and did very well indeed. The movie is a delightful watch for those who love the genre.