• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Film

Tom of Finland: Film Review

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP Tom of Finland beings in the Second World War, where Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang) is serving as an anti-aircraft officer and is exploring his sexuality. After the war ends Laaksonen returns to the house he shares with his sister Kaija (Jessica Grabowsky) and begins to draw erotic images. Due to laws […]

Kit Power by Kit Power
August 9, 2017
in Film, New Movies

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP

Tom of Finland beings in the Second World War, where Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang) is serving as an anti-aircraft officer and is exploring his sexuality. After the war ends Laaksonen returns to the house he shares with his sister Kaija (Jessica Grabowsky) and begins to draw erotic images. Due to laws that saw his pictures as pornographic and illegal it was hard for them to be sold but slowly they start to make their way across Europe and the globe. Much to Laaksonen’s surprise the suggestive images found a following in the much more liberated California and he is invited over there to a hero’s welcome.

The story is easy to digest and makes for an enjoyable viewing experience. Tom of Finland is very watchable and it is easy to relax into the pacing of the film. There is just enough tension and drama to keep it interesting but never so much that you feel uncomfortable or anxious. It is strange that a film with such controversial and conflicted subject matter is itself so conventional. The lack of historical detail helps it stay away from any contention and means that no specific comments are made about the periods depicted.

The opening sequences taking place in the Second World War seem a bit detached, with no connections made between his time at war and the events that follow. Even the final part of the film, set within a California shaken by the AIDS crisis, does not manage to comment on the events surrounding it. There is not enough focus on the important aspects of the story, with any commentary or insight spread so thinly that it is impossible to detect.

It is strange that a film taking place in such recognisable historical periods pays so little attention to their wider social contexts. The only time director Dome Karukoski comes close to commenting on his chosen subject matter is in relation to Laaksonen’s drawings. Even here the potentially provocative discussion on whether the pictures are art or pornographic is treated in the most diplomatic of ways. For Karukoski there is no conflict to be had and the images can be interpreted both ways.

In the end this means that Tom of Finland is more the story of how its title character came to terms with his homosexuality and artwork than one about the wider social transformations that were happening at the same time. Ultimately the film is an enjoyable if slightly unsubstantial study of someone’s desire to draw.

Tom of Finland is an interesting and well told look at the life of Finnish erotic artist Touko Laaksonen. It may not have quite enough historic detail to comment on the impacts repressive laws and the AIDS crisis had on the gay community but is still an entertaining homage to the importance of art in all its forms.

RelatedPosts

Film Review: Lucky

Glasgow Film Festival 2021

Jonah Hill posts perfect response to Daily Mail article as he hits out at body shamers

Glasgow Film Festival: What we’ve seen so far

Tom of Finland is in cinemas from Friday 11th August.

 

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

We just spent International Women’s Day chastising a woman

Royally tongue-tied? PM refuses to discuss if Royal Family is racist

Set For Life Results Monday 8th March 2021

Meghan and Harry: Tabloid racism ‘large part’ of why they left UK

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.