Tom Of Finland
Helsinki Filmi Oy / Zeitgeist Films (2017)
Drama, Queer Themes/Interest
On Wish List
#757
7*
Seen ItYes
(10/15/2017 LIGLFF Cinema Arts)
IMDB   6.8
115 mins Finland / Finnish
DVD  Region 1
Lauri Tilkanen Veli
Jessica Grabowsky Kaija
Pekka Strang Touko Laaksonen
Fabian Puregger Tom’s Dream Cop
Niklas Hogner Kake
Seumas F. Sargent Doug
Director
Dome Karukoski
Writer/Composer Aleksi Bardy
Dome Karukoski
Cinematography Lasse Frank Johannessen
Music Lasse Enersen
Hildur Guðnadóttir


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 peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free on inhabitations. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.
Edition Details
No. of Discs/Tapes 1
References
IMDb Voters <500

Notes
As for being a docudrama on the life of Touko Laaksonen, who became known as Tom of Finland, it does a decent job (I suppose) with his early life, but seems to rush through his later life of fame and notority· While just under two hours in length, the audience (including myself) was definitely getting restless· Several interesting techniques were employed, especially having iconic Tom of Finland men appear in the background of several scenes, which perhaps could have been exploited more·