Let’s start with a bit of a history. I have witnessed the beginning
of it. I saw the camera that this movie was filmed with unpacked. I saw
Karisma Films registration announcement in Kauppalehti. I more or less
followed the creation of the movie – thanks to the scriptwriter and
operator Alexander Savin. I have arranged a meeting for Alex with Magnus Nevstad and a great Norwegian band dOMi
that later on contributed to the creation of music for "Leijonan Sydän". I
saw my name in the "thank you" list in the titles after the film 🙂 But
despite all this I’ll try to be objective in my review (and will not let the fact that main character uses Nokia phone with Lifeblog wrist wrap affect my judgment 🙂
"Leijonan sydän" tells about a teenager Leo (played by Markus Kosonen, who is also a producer of this movie). Leo is really passionate about hockey and wants to dedicate his life to it. But eventually he finds himself playing at the expense of school, relationships with his girlfriend Jonna (played by Irina Ritvanen) and health.
It is a movie about growing up, learning to make important decisions yourslef, friendship and love. Good humor, dynamic and realistic sports filming, philosophical dialogs, make this
movie worth watching.
It is one of the few movies filmed in Tampere. I can remember only two other really – "Raid" (where Tampere is barely recognisable) and "Jäähyväiset presidentille" .
"Leijonan Sydän" was created by Karisma Films without any financial aid whatsoever. But it was totally compensated by the passion for the art of cinematography and dedication of the actors and crew members. This is truly a movie made by people who believe in what they do and do it not for the money, but to make the world a better place.
After "Leijonan Sydän" was played in Plevna and Niagara movie theaters in Tampere, rights for TV presentation were sold to YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) for the next ten years, so you have a pretty good chance to see it on TV.
Great start, guys! You will make the world aware of the fact that Finnish movies are made not only by Kaurismäki brothers.
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