Anna-Maria Klintrup
Koistinen is a sad sack, a man without affect or friends. He's a night-watchman in Helsinki with ideas of starting his own business, but nothing to go with those intentions. He sometimes talks a bit with a woman who runs a snack trailer near his work. Out of the blue, a young sophisticated blonde woman attaches herself to Koistinen. He thinks of her as his girlfriend, he takes her on her rounds.
Joulubileet (The Christmas Party) might well be the closest to the ultimate cult movie that the Finnish film industry has ever gotten. The third directorial effort of Jari Halonen, a clearly distinctive voice in the local filmmaking landscape, is a timeless, absurd and at times completely insane piece of masculine comedy rough not only on the edges, but to the core. A story of Mike, just out of prison, and his buddies throwing a Christmas party under the most obscure circumstances is filled with juicy dialogue and plot twists that will definitely make your jaw drop – and have you chuckle for days after.
