Homebound
Original Finnish film poster
Directed byIlkka Järvi-Laturi
Written byIlkka Järvi-Laturi
Outi Nyytäjä
Annina Enckell
Produced byHeikki Takkinen
Lasse Saarinen
StarringIlkka Koivula
Jonna Järnefelt
CinematographyKjell Lagerroos
Edited byTuula Mehtonen
Music byAtso Almila
Production
companies
Filminor
FilmZolfo
Distributed byFinnkino
Release date
  • 10 March 1989 (1989-03-10)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryFinland
LanguageFinnish
BudgetFIM 5,073,153[1]

Homebound (Finnish: Kotia päin) is a 1989 Finnish crime drama film directed by Ilkka Järvi-Laturi.[1] It tells the story of a young student who moves 600 kilometres (370 mi) away from his hometown to the capital to study, as he worries about his mother's problematic relationship with a new husband. The film is starring by Ilkka Koivula and Jonna Järnefelt.

The film was Järvi-Laturi's first feature film. According to Järvi-Laturi, he was inspired by the 1986 news headline of Ilta-Sanomat: "The death of the one thrown into the sea was the revenge of the underworld". The news piqued his interest because it gave the impression of organized crime.[2]

Plot summary

Year 1986 in Oulu, Finland. Elli Nyman marries Kauko Kurkela, convicted of murder, in the prison chapel, but Elli's son Mika Uurassalmi does not like his new stepfather. Mika is about to go to Helsinki to study at the University of Technology, and Elli is buying an apartment for her son in the Merihaka district. By chance, Mika meets his old schoolmate Ulla in Helsinki, who has come to work in the capital. After a reserved beginning, a romantic relationship develops between the young people. However, Kurkela's possible tendency to engage in intimate domestic violence causes Mika's everyday life to be disrupted and he has to worry about the well-being of his mother in his childhood home, as well as his own future in the capital with his studies and Ulla.

Cast

Reception

Homebound received mixed reviews when it was released. Its factuality was criticized, even though the story did not exactly follow the events that inspired it.[2] Janet Maslin from The New York Times found the film "sordid and solidly unglamorous, the acting performances more opaque than the situation warrants and the ending surprising but an unrevealing one."[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Kotia päin". Elonet (in Finnish). Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  2. 1 2 Sinisalo, Kati (1990). "Mainetta päin. Ilkka Järvi-Laturi teki vaikuttavan debyytin". Elävän kuvan vuosikirja 1990 (in Finnish). Valtion Painatuskeskus. pp. 102–105. ISBN 951-861-951-4.
  3. Maslin, Janet (30 March 1990). "Review/Film Festival; Domestic Crimes in a Drama From Finland". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2023.


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