Tom of Finland (film)

Tom of Finland
Finnish theatrical release poster
Directed byDome Karukoski
Written byAleksi Bardy
Produced by
  • Aleksi Bardy
  • Miia Haavisto
  • Annika Sucksdorff
Starring
CinematographyLasse Frank
Edited byHarri Ylönen
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 27 January 2017 (2017-01-27) (Gothenburg)
  • 24 February 2017 (2017-02-24) (Finland)
  • 3 March 2017 (2017-03-03) (Sweden)
  • 5 October 2017 (2017-10-05) (Germany)
  • 13 October 2017 (2017-10-13) (United States)
Running time
115 minutes
Countries
  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Denmark
  • Germany[1]
  • United States[2]
Languages
  • Finnish
  • English
Budget€3.8 million[3]
Box office$1.8 million[4][5]

Tom of Finland is a 2017 biographical drama film directed by Dome Karukoski and written by Aleksi Bardy. It stars Pekka Strang as Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, a Finnish homoerotic artist.[6]

Tom of Finland premiered on 27 January 2017 at Gothenburg Film Festival and was released theatrically in Finland on 24 February 2017.[3] It was selected as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[7][8]

Premise

Touko Laaksonen returns home after serving in World War II. In post-war Helsinki, he makes a name for himself with his homoerotic drawings of muscular men. Before finding fame, he finds challenges from his sister and Finnish society due to his art.

Cast

Reception

Awards

At the 2016 Finnish Film Affair (a "work-in-progress forum" running alongside the Helsinki International Film Festival), Tom of Finland shared the Best Pitch prize, splitting the award money with Post Punk Disorder.[9][10]

At the 2017 Göteborg Film Festival, the film won the Fipresci Award.[11][12]

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Tom of Finland honors its subject with an empathetic, even-handed, and above all entertaining look at the pioneering art he produced from private turmoil."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Lodge, Guy (11 February 2017). "Film Review: 'Tom of Finland'". Variety.
  2. ^ "Tom of Finland". Gothenburg Film Festival. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Karukoski Announces Tom Of Finland Cast In Berlin". Nordic Drama. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Tom of Finland". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Tom of Finland". The Numbers. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  6. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (15 September 2016). "Protagonist, Helsinki Filmi Unveil 'Tom of Finland' Teaser". Variety. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Tom of Finland valittiin Suomen Oscar-ehdokkaaksi". Kaleva. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Tom of Finland film to vie for foreign-language Oscar nomination". Yle. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  9. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (22 September 2016). "'Post Punk Disorder,' 'Tom of Finland' Scoop Finnish Film Affair Awards". Variety.
  10. ^ Aftab, Kaleem (23 September 2016). "Finnish Film Affair: 'Tom Of Finland', 'Punk Syndrome' split Best Pitch prize". Screen Daily.
  11. ^ Alissa Simon (4 February 2017). "'Sámi Blood' Tops 40th Goteborg Film Festival". Variety.
  12. ^ "Here are the Dragon Award winners" (Press release). Gothenburg Film Festival. 4 February 2017. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Tom of Finland (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  14. ^ "Tom of Finland Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 February 2018.