TOM OF FINLAND (Dome Karukoski). 116 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (February 23) at the Carlton. See listing. Rating: NNN
Some solid performances and the fierce originality of its subject make this biopic about the eponymous Finnish-born gay male erotic artist worthwhile viewing. Too bad the film itself is all over the map.
Small-town born Touko Valio Laaksonen (Pekka Strang), still recovering from his experiences fighting in the Winter War against Russia, begins work in a Helsinki advertising agency in the mid 1940s. Living with his prudish younger sister, Kaija (Jessica Grabowsky), he secretly draws images of hyper-sexualized men, fuelled by his memories of war and his fetishization of authority figures who he has seen beating men cruising in the park or in washrooms.
The appearance of a new roommate, a handsome modern dancer named Nipa (Lauri Tilkanen) changes everything. Initially the siblings both have a crush on him, but during one of the film’s finest scenes, Touko seduces him, and eventually Nipa convinces him to sell his work elsewhere, thus starting the artist’s cult status in the underground gay scene in America and eventually coinciding with the burgeoning gay liberation movement.
The first half is very effective. Director Dome Karukoski knows the power of the closeted gay gaze – the backward glance, the full-body assessment in smoke-filled rooms – and Strang and Tilkanen commit fully to their roles. Taisto Oksanen is also excellent as one of Touko’s earliest queer allies, an older army captain who leads a double life.
Karukoski also includes the intriguing visual idea of having Touko’s iconic leather-clad character, Kake, be played by an actor appearing in several scenes, although the concept isn’t fully developed.
Once the film reaches America, however, it glosses over too many issues, including censorship and AIDS. The way Doug (Seumas Sargent) and Jack (Jakob Oftebro), two men who help build Touko’s reputation in the States, are introduced falls flat, and the two actors aren’t as compelling as their Finnish counterparts.
It would have been interesting to see something about Touko’s friendship with similar renegade artist Robert Mapplethorpe. And those looking for a more nuanced look at Tom of Finland’s imagery – including its fetishization of Nazi uniforms – should seek out the the short doc Daddy And The Muscle Academy.
