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.
Review of Concrete Night
