Pelle Varavaara (Matti Ranin) is a promising ski jumper who still lives at home with his parents, brother Kali (Jussi Jurkka) and sister Japi (Maija Karhi). To celebrate Kali's 21st birthday, they invite their friends Hubert and Löpö (Leo Jokela and Maikki Länsiö) to come over and party wildly all night. While the mother of the Varavaaras (Irma Seikkula) is quite a partier herself, the mild-mannered mathematician father Reinhold (Tauno Palo) usually just retreats to the cellar to avoid the company of his self-centered and sneering kids. Only Pelle's girlfriend Marja (Kaija Siikala) seems to understand him. However, one day he has had enough and decides to put the family in order for good.
The noisy rebelliousness of the youths is fun at first but gets a little tiresome soon, as the kids are given a lot of screen-time and the actors look too old for their roles. This is why the calmer characters are ultimately more interesting than the slang-speaking, jazz-loving, gum-chewing party animals. The wistful scenes with Reinhold and the beautiful young student Marja are the best moments in the movie and would easily work in a more serious drama story as well.
In the end, this version of Kuriton sukupolvi is a watchable comedy, mostly thanks to the performances of Palo and Siikala and some amusing camera-work but I don't want to downplay the importance of the other actors either. Especially Irma Seikkula is rather amusing as the mother and the "youths" do their thing pretty well too (that is, overact their hearts out) even if the plot could have focused on other aspects of the story more.
The noisy rebelliousness of the youths is fun at first but gets a little tiresome soon, as the kids are given a lot of screen-time and the actors look too old for their roles. This is why the calmer characters are ultimately more interesting than the slang-speaking, jazz-loving, gum-chewing party animals. The wistful scenes with Reinhold and the beautiful young student Marja are the best moments in the movie and would easily work in a more serious drama story as well.
In the end, this version of Kuriton sukupolvi is a watchable comedy, mostly thanks to the performances of Palo and Siikala and some amusing camera-work but I don't want to downplay the importance of the other actors either. Especially Irma Seikkula is rather amusing as the mother and the "youths" do their thing pretty well too (that is, overact their hearts out) even if the plot could have focused on other aspects of the story more.
