5_ScanMag_77_June_2015_Text_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 05/06/2015 16:46 Page 22
Scan Magazine | Feature | Dome Karukoski
Dome Karukoski. Photo: Emine Lunden
A meeting with the saviour of Finnish cinema Acclaimed as “the saviour of Finnish cinema”, Dome Karukoski is a rarity: a maker of art house films that attract blockbuster audiences. Scan Magazine caught up with the Finnish director in Glasgow where his latest film, The Grump, was charming film festival attendees. By Paula Hammond | Photos: Marek Sabogal
“The idea that if we’re making an art house film, we have to make it as difficult as possible, or that if it’s a commercial film, we have to have to load it with ‘ha ha jokes,’ is just stupid,” Karukoski says. “The Grump was a super box office hit and the number one film in Finland last year. But at the same time Glasgow will be its seventh film festival appearance. People are now calling it commercial but if it wouldn’t have become a box office hit, would that make it art house?!” Talking to Dome Karukoski is like trying to catch lightning. He seems to be doing a dozen things at once: eating lunch, reading messages, checking the clock. He bounces from topic to topic, with an infectious enthusiasm and impish hu-
22 | Issue 77 | June 2015
mour. “Actually, the way I’m living and travelling,” he laughs, “I can’t see me lasting much longer!”
limeter cameras that all the directors usually shoot films with when they’re kids. So film school, which was government funded, allowed me to practice and rehearse the simple language of cinema,” Karukoski says. “To try different things and mould myself into the filmmaker I am.” Embracing strong females
Karukoski’s passion for film is, he admits, “a bit of a puzzle”. His father was an actor and in the way that young boys often idolise their fathers, he applied to acting school. “I didn’t get in, luckily,” he adds. Instead, Karukoski attended film school without direct knowledge of a directorial profession, but with a burning desire to be involved with films.
His debut feature, Beauty and the Bastard was the surprise festival hit that catapulted the then 28-year old into the big time. Since then Karukoski has made his name with human dramas, filled with passion and quiet, contemplative moments. His heroes are often traumatised social outcasts who, like the delinquent boys in The Home of the Dark Butterflies, struggle to find their place in the world.
Film school turned out to be a vital time for the fledgling filmmaker. “I was raised by a single mom who didn’t have that much money so we didn’t have a camera. We couldn’t afford even the 8-mil-
Although he feels that many of his stories are about men for men, his worldview is one that embraces strong independent women. “ In Heart of a Lion and The Grump the mother characters are proud
The father’s footsteps