A Moment in the Reeds

Leevi, studying in Paris, comes back to Finland for the summer to help repair his father's lakeside house. His father has hired Tareq, a Syrian refugee, for the work. When the father goes into town the two young men are left alone, and within a few days something forms between them. Mikko Makela wrote and directed his first film. It was counted a first in Finland: among the first Finnish features to place a gay love story at the centre, with much of the dialogue in English because that is the language the two share. Its second subject is migration. Tareq trained as an architect but works construction in Finland, and the difference between how the father sees him and how Leevi does is the real tension in the family. The telling is calm, the scenes long, the music almost absent. The lake house functions as a single location. The ending refuses the expected romantic resolution; the relationship lasts about as long as the summer. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet Scandinavian drama and two-hander stories. Who it is not for: anyone after pace; almost nothing happens.