There
are pockets of Scandinavia where metal still rules, like it is still the late
1980s. Maybe it is the Nordic scenery that would often resemble heavy metal album
covers, if you replaced the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Sea with Hellfire. Alas, Turo
Moilanen lives in a small Finnish town where hair bands get no respect.
However, Moilanen and his three band-mates have a dream of hardcore glory, but
nobody is going to hand it to them. They will have to fight for it
head-banger-style in Juuso Laatio & Jukka Vidgren’s Heavy Trip (trailer
here),
which opens tomorrow in New York.
Turo
is the front-man in a band called Impaled Rektum, but the mere idea of
performing in front of an audience will send him off projectile vomiting. Of
the Un-Fab Four, Jynkky, their formerly dead drummer, is probably the healthiest.
Yet, with a little encouragement from someone like his longtime crush Miia, he
might possibly pull it together in time for their set on the main stage of the
biggest Scandinavian metal festival.
Yeah
sure, but the thing of it is, Impaled Rektum really hasn’t been invited. It was
just a misunderstanding that took on a life of its own. Regardless, it could
still be the sight of pointlessly futile gesture on their part—if they can get
there.
For
the most part, Heavy Trip is a genial,
quirky comedy that you could watch with your grandparents, but at least one
plot point around midway through took some guts. Still, this doesn’t feel all
that different from A Man Called Ove or
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.
Johannes
Holopainen’s long-haired Turo is mostly a big nothing, but he still manages to
build some nice chemistry with Minka Kuustonen, who is quite winning as Miia. The
rest of the band look like they are acting goofy on cue. Perhaps the best supporting
turn comes from Chike Ohanwe, who definitely goes all in as a metal loving
psych patient at the hospital where Turo works as a lowly orderly.
Basically,
Heavy Trip is a harmless film that is
desperate to be liked. Some of the jokes appeal to a “grim-dark” sensibility,
but it is mostly too polite for a true head-banger movie. As a result, it is
hard to really pin down who this film is really intended for. Therefore, Heavy Trip is mostly just recommended
for aging metal-heads looking for low-impact nostalgia. The rest of us can just
go about our business when it opens this Friday (10/5) in New York, at the IFC Center.