I'd been meaning to watch this film ever since it was released as I find the subject matter very interesting and intriguing. There is a lot of potential for a good movie here, which is such a shame. It had me interested for Maybe the first half an hour (especially the Finnish boys tumbling in the muddy lake, delicioso) and then suddenly the film becomes a big pointless mess.
The acting of the Americans in the latter half is pretty bad and their characters are not developed at all. The scene where they come in I really started to hate the movie and it felt like a different and poorer film had started. The film overall seems extremely superficial in nature and personally as a gay man I find it does nothing really helpful to explore gay issues and characters. Actually they seem to celebrate being vapid.
I'm sure the real Tom of Finland had an extremely complex and fascinating story to tell, why not here ??? This idea that homosexuality was universally embraced in California I find a bit hard to swallow. Maybe I'm historically ignorant but it felt unbelievable, silly & borderline insulting to suggest the police were that gay friendly.
The relationship between the main character and his sister could have been interesting but it's wasted opportunity. That conflict should have been explored seeing as it was so obviously introduced as a major part of the story. I couldn't find any explanation or justification for her Change of attitude. All of a sudden it's just different. Did somebody else write the second half of this film??? The contrast between Tom of Finland's erotic and violent drawings with a film that seems sappy & saccharine is quite offputting. I want a movie that reflects the power of his drawings. This movie seems to be portraying his artwork as something gentle and loving and life-affirming. It really doesn't fit. There was a VERY lame joke in the hospital scene which made me cringe! I almost turned the film off at this point! Who wrote this awful awful script?
I give a 4/10 because the first half of the film has some merit and I was somewhat emotionally engaged in the beginning. But it really bombs in the second half. I would love to see this subject matter handled in a more gritty way. Something to do justice to the legacy of the man instead of this feeble attempt.Underwhelmed!
The acting of the Americans in the latter half is pretty bad and their characters are not developed at all. The scene where they come in I really started to hate the movie and it felt like a different and poorer film had started. The film overall seems extremely superficial in nature and personally as a gay man I find it does nothing really helpful to explore gay issues and characters. Actually they seem to celebrate being vapid.
I'm sure the real Tom of Finland had an extremely complex and fascinating story to tell, why not here ??? This idea that homosexuality was universally embraced in California I find a bit hard to swallow. Maybe I'm historically ignorant but it felt unbelievable, silly & borderline insulting to suggest the police were that gay friendly.
The relationship between the main character and his sister could have been interesting but it's wasted opportunity. That conflict should have been explored seeing as it was so obviously introduced as a major part of the story. I couldn't find any explanation or justification for her Change of attitude. All of a sudden it's just different. Did somebody else write the second half of this film??? The contrast between Tom of Finland's erotic and violent drawings with a film that seems sappy & saccharine is quite offputting. I want a movie that reflects the power of his drawings. This movie seems to be portraying his artwork as something gentle and loving and life-affirming. It really doesn't fit. There was a VERY lame joke in the hospital scene which made me cringe! I almost turned the film off at this point! Who wrote this awful awful script?
I give a 4/10 because the first half of the film has some merit and I was somewhat emotionally engaged in the beginning. But it really bombs in the second half. I would love to see this subject matter handled in a more gritty way. Something to do justice to the legacy of the man instead of this feeble attempt.Underwhelmed!