Like Winter Vacation (reviewed yesterday and also showing today), more snowy desolation abounds in Almari Helander’s debut film Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. But this time the setting is a much more grim (bordering on Grimm) and fable-like Finland (bordering on Lapland). There are 24 days to go until Christmas, and high on a mountain a mysterious company called Subzero Inc. are drilling deep, deep down; they discover something, or is it someone, encased in ice. All the local townsfolk are told is that they are to be very very good. A knowing farm boy (Onni Tommila) and his father (Jorma Tommila) latch onto the shady goings-on and decide to investigate further...
It’s a Christmas film for people who hate Christmas: a tale very much about the festive period, but via the quite possibly warped imagination of a Scrooge-like misanthrope. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a kid’s film, essentially, although this is debatable: it uneasily sits as outright family entertainment, but skimps on the potential gore it occasionally teases the viewer with (some judicious cutting occurs at crucial points). There’s fun to be had, but intermittently; the narrative mid-section does drag somewhat. Some moments during the build-up to the tense finale are inspired, however, and far more crafty and well-plotted than I initially expected.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is at the LFF on Saturday 23rd & Tuesday 26th October
