En som deg

Wow! What the point of this movie was about - absolutely eludes me? Sure the basics are that a man and his friends meet a woman in a foreign land but then it would *almost* be giving the whole movie away to say - that pretty much nothing of any consequence happened afterwards: move along now please, there's nothing much for you to see.

And there isn't! To put things into context, my nym might suggest that I'm some some 90-ish IQ "Trashformers/Die Hard 4" fan who just happened to be trapped into seeing this movie, by someone near infinitely smarter. But, if you thought that, then you'd be absolutely wrong: For I'm a great fan of many of Eric Rohmer's movies. What's more, I rate many independent and foreign movies among my favourites. So, I've no issues with waiting for a wonderful movie to develop. It's just that 'Must Have Been Love' could just as easily have been titled "Must Have Been Love, But... We're Not Sure". Yes, it *is* that pretentiously banal!

Love amidst foreign climes is supposed to be rooted in intrigue, mysterious doubts & heady romance. Yet The people depicted in this movie have about as much personality as a pair of bus tickets to nowhere. In all honesty, its screenplay writer could not have written a more boring movie if he tried.

I give it 3/10 because it is well filmed, directed and scored. Apart from the aforesaid, the movie left my wondering aloud: 'what on earth was the point of that movie!?'

A 2012 film that begins in Istanbul, moves through Oslo, Helsinki, and Berlin, and chronicles the love between two Scandinavians who meet while vacationing in Istanbul... And this movie was filmed on my very street. In the fall of 2012, I was in Ukraine, and this crew came and shot a film on my street; talk about a stroke of bad luck!

I hadn't seen any of Eirik Svensson's previous work until this picture. I tip my hat to him because he's helmed one of the better films shot in Turkey by a non-Turkish crew. Eschewing Orientalism and any jingoistic sentiment, he's captured some beautiful scenes, making good use of Istanbul's colors and sounds.

However, the film hits a snag with its pacing once it leaves Istanbul. So much so that even the camera angles and music become uneven.

The film is middling fare, and in that regard, it delivers on what it promises to its audience.

Is love really based upon wanting something so hard that you really decide yourself what you want out of it? That's my thought while watching this Norwegian/Finnish film by Norwegian director Eirik Svensson.

This movie is so romantic, that it's almost unbelievable. Got to be a great for couples in love to watch. Not only is the start of the film taking place in Instanbul under very pleasant holiday weather and romantic circumstances, but what is impossible to miss out on, is that it's so naturally played by all the actors. The chemistry is amazing.

What it really interesting, is that it's a double take on a love story, by some freak luck. It's also a great take on person sons meeting accidentally, feeling chemistry. A contact which may never would have taken place if it weren't for Kaisa's brave first steps of conversation. The film relays heavily on fantasy of the mind as well as imagination and the need to feel loved. It's also an inspiration to follow up your dreams, and never compromise on your inner feelings. And how is it possible to go to work like everything's normal, when you're head over heels in love?

Debuting feature film director Eirik Svensson has made a great little film as a debut, which really is a good take on a starting romances. I find the acting very natural and realistic. Simple forward meeting of a couple of shy, normal humans. Beautifully filmed also on a small budget, and the story is both written (with Jyrki Vaisanen) and directed by a guy we obviously will hear much more from.

It's really love at first sight between Norwegian Jacob and Finnish Kaisa, meeting at his final day of holiday in Istanbul. The next day ho goes back to Norway, but Kaisa can't forget him. Later on she moves from Helsinki to Oslo, and coincidentally he recognizes Jacob again in a supermarket. But is it Jacob? Doesn't he recognize her? Doesn't he want to admit they have met? It builds up to be a predicament.

The chemistry between Pamela Tola and Espen Klouman-Høiner is showing great acting. It's the first time I see her in a film, but he is always very good. For many it'll be Joachim Trier's "Reprise", which was widely critically acclaimed. Here he is playing to different guys, which resembles each other. He does remarkably well. What a talented young actor!

The film is 98% spoken in English, due to the two languages being so different that they have English as a second language in both countries. It'll work well internationally.

The film has good drive until it stalls a bit mid way through. Still very romantic, but it's more likely to make you fall off then, if you're not the romantic type. I'm not a great fan of romantic films, but still the chemistry here saves the day!

The Finnish title, Kaksi Tarinaa Rakkaudesta, translates as Two Stories About Love... which, for anyone with half a brain (and used to all the stupid tropes of these kind of films), gives away the entire plot as soon as Kaisa - the female lead - approaches the wrong man in a shop in Norway.

The film begins in Turkey, where Kaisa and her two mates conveniently meet three Norwegian men; Kaisa and one of the blokes hit it off and it's genuinely nice to see real chemistry with believable affections growing, rather than them just jumping into bed and the audience having to pretend along with them that they're in love.

Unfortunately, Kaisa is ultra annoying in her incessant questioning of something the man clearly doesn't want to discuss and when the men go back home, she's left regretting letting him get away.

Luckily, Kaisa has the finances and freedom to travel at will and she moves to Oslo, presumably with the hope of bumping into the dude on the street... which, obviously, was never going to succeed if her memories of him prompt her to approach a completely dissimilar-looking bloke to ask if he remembers her from Istanbul (note: it's actually the same actor in both roles, in a deliberate attempt to fool viewers, even though there's no way it's the same character).

Cue a love affair, during which time we wonder if Kaisa's supposed to be the world's worst dance teacher and all of a sudden, her and the new bloke are living in Helsinki... which makes the inevitable all the more ridiculous.

I won't ruin it for those who are blessed to not spot the endings of clichéd flicks like this a mile away, thus can enjoy them more than the rest of us, but - unless this film was partly funded with the stipulation of shooting some portion of it in Berlin - the ending makes no sense whatsoever, even though it was all so predictable a long time ago already.

Verdict: sadly, one of the better Finnish films, which demonstrates how awful things are when I can't really recommend this.

I have rarely felt this complete emptiness while watching a movie. And especially one which I would have guessed has so much potential! I love Finnish, I love Norwegian; that alone should have been a good starting point. But the story managed to stretch my patience and finally, after a long wait, lead into nothing. There are these little glimpses of scenes, things that are just unfolding and could drive the plot on, but then they just disappear, and make way to the previously tried out nothingness. Like the scene where Anders is in his undies in the street in the middle of the night, the time when Kaisa leaves the group to get milk and wanders off to a different location, the talk between the Norwegian cousins in the kitchen.. Why? What? Where are all these bits of beginnings leading to? Nowhere. A total waste of time. I recommend watch something else. Anything.