Pearls And Pigs ( Helmiä ja sikoja )

Pearls And Pigs (DVD) (*)

~~$20.99~~ $14.97

Original Title: Helmiä ja sikoja
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Danish ( Subtitles )
English ( Subtitles )
Finnish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
Finnish ( Subtitles )
Norwegian ( Subtitles )
Swedish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Finland ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
107 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Commentary
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Making Of
Music Video
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2003 and produced in:
Finland ( Scandinavia, Iceland )

Directed By:
Perttu Leppä

Written By:
Perttu Leppä

Actors:
Mikko Leppilampi ..... Läde
Laura Birn ..... Laura
Amanda Pilke ..... Saara
Unto Helo ..... Timo
Timo Lavikainen ..... Ruho
Konsta Hiekkanen ..... Poju (as Jimi Pääkallo)
Pekka Valkeejärvi ..... Ukko
Outi Mäenpää ..... Saaran mutsi
Antti Reini ..... Lauran miesystävä
Antti Virmavirta ..... Sika
Tomi Salmela ..... Limppu
Sakari Kuosmanen ..... Lehikoinen
Matti Onnismaa ..... Mutsin miesystävä
Risto Salmi ..... Alkon myyjä
Marko Tiusanen ..... Ulosottomies

Synopsis:

When their bootlegging father ends up in jail, four twenty-something brothers need money to pay his debts to local crooks. Next, their 9-year-old half-sister is dumped on their doorstep by her prostitute mother. A karaoke set helps reveal that the little girl is quite a singer, just as a talent contest for children is coming up on national television offering more than enough money to the winner. If only the kid weren't so hopelessly shy...

It's no exaggeration that Pearls and Pigs's UK premiere at the 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival was a success. After the early slow start: middling comic episodes introducing small-town (Joensuu) small-time crook Erkki Hirvonen (Perka Valkeejarvi), a single father who operates a bootlegging business with his four uncouth twentysomething sons. Namely good-looking nice-guy Lade (Mikko Leppilampi), amiably stoned Timo (Unto Helo), volatile tough-nut Ruho aka 'Bulk' (Timo Lavikainen) and nightclubbing gay hedonist Pujo aka 'Boy' (Jimi Paakallo), the picture finally finds its feet when the hapless Erkki is jailed and the lads must produce a large amount of Euros to pay off 'Pig' and 'Sty' - local criminal bigwigs they've inadvertently offended. As if this wasn't enough, the boys find themselves in a Three Men and a Little Lady type scenario when their blonde-moppet half-sister Saara (Amanda Pilke) is dumped on their doorstep by her hard-bitten prostitute mother (Outi Maenpaa). But when Saara reveals unsuspected talents as an angel-voiced singer, the brothers waste no time in entering her for the lucrative televised 'Superkid' contest. Complications ensue.

Pin-up Lade may be a touch one-dimensional, and 'Boy' is conspicuously sidelined almost as much as his incarcerated dad, but Lavikainen's (Johnny-Ramone-ish) 'Bulk' and Helo's out-there Timo make for a most engaging double-act. By the end you'll be thoroughly convinced by the quartet's raucous fraternal bonds, despite their looking nothing like each other. Indeed, despite what occasionally feels like an overextended running time, you may even find you could quite happily spend another hour or two chez Hirvonen.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 15 November, 2005.

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