Official Oscar® Submission for Best Foreign Language Film from Finland: ‘Tom of Finland’
Premiering at Goteborg Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize and moving on to Tribeca before playing many other festivals, Tom of Finland would seem to be testing the Academy with such a gay subject, but no more so than France with BPM, Beats Per Minute, and South Africa’s The Wound, or in the past with Milk and the Celluloid Closet, and certainly within the context of the Academy Awards’ diversity this season, with Moonlight, a possible winner of best picture, and Luca Guadagnino’s stunningly beautiful Call Me by Your Name with Armie Hammer looking to make a run at Best Actor, the Academy’s spotty record of recognizing gay-themed cinema may be improving.
Obviously, with such iconic art, the LGBTQ world would be writing at length about this film and here I quote Blade, America’s LGBT News Source article by Michael Jortner:
But what is perhaps most surprising about this story of Touko Laaksonen, the decorated World War Two officer-turned-infamous queer illustrator, is how tame it feels, almost genteel. The film allows everyone, in the way PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre does, to settle in for a good ride, allowing the story to transport them to another place and time in that familiar costume drama way.
Pekka Strang, who is not gay, plays Touko with a quiet, graceful power that is completely believable. He finds the soul of the main character, communicating his struggles without melodrama. His Touko, though conflicted, hurt and brutalized, is without shame.
Karukoski, 40, who is straight, has made six feature films prior to Tom of Finland and is currently shooting the new film about Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien.
The film itself is beautifully acted and shot with an understatement that somehow seems very Finnish adn with humor that also seems Finnish. As said above, its artistry in creating a costume genre is unquestioned. While the film may not stand out among the 92 contestants for Academy Award Nomination, it will have a longevity that is well-deserved as fans of Tom of Finland seek more information about the man behind the art.
The statement of the FIPRESCI Prize Jury in Goteborg praised the film,
For the way the director and his team portray the life of such an iconic character, balancing a well done execution and story development, and taking us through the decades thanks to a clever use of music and production design.
There is actually a Tom of Finland Foundation here in the United States of America where Durk Dehner, a Canadian who was a model, sought out Tom so impressed was he with the artistic sensibilities of Tom, whose actual name was Touko Laaksonen. He soon invited Tom to become a guest at his craftsman home in Echo Park (L.A. CA). By the 1980s Tom had his personal bedroom/ workshop in the attic where he created masterworks and stayed in Echo Park half the year providing relief from the oppressively anti-gay environment of post-war Finland.
Tom passed away in November of 1991 and left an impressive oeuvre befitting his world class status in Gay male erotic art which became ubiqitous in the late 80s. As the HIV took its toll in the gay community, his work provided visions of strength and fun which bolstered the community.
The Tom of Finland Foundation has many facets to its mission which includes preserving, cataloging and digitizing, promoting both works of Touko Laaksonen and present day artists, a residency, a store and collaboration with other galleries and museums.
See Tom of Finland’s official website and trailer here.
