Tom of Finland
Tom of Finland
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Synopsis

Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II. But life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds post-war Helsinki rampant with homophobic persecution, and gay men around him are being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art: homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. Dome Karukoski---2017---Finland---115 mins

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  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
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  | Mark#58

This movie details the life and work of Touko Valio Laaksonen (aka Tom of Finland), one of the most influential and celebrated figures of 20th-century gay culture. Beginning during his service in WWII and on through his deeply closeted life in Finland, we see Touko -- who lives with his sister -- start creating his soon to be influential drawings of exaggerated men's bodies. Standard biopic fare until the action starts taking place in the U.S. and, frankly, I had no idea what was going on. What year was it? Who are Doug and Jack? Title cards indicate time and place would've been extremely helpful because it seemed like the action jumped from late '50s Finland to early '80s California. If this had been a series, an episode was missing. So from that moment on, I needed Wikipedia open to tell what was going on and when it was taking place. When his partner became ill, I thought it was the 50s but it seemed to indicate he had AIDS so that couldn't be right, even though he said he had throat cancer. Too many unanswered questions and vague happenstances. Couldn't tell if Touko was that stoic or if the actor playing him (Pekka Strang) was that limited. All in all, a mostly bleak tale with only hints of joy later on. Hard to fully enjoy a movie whose main character seldom smiles, especially a movie that purports to celebrate the freedom of art. C

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