"Road North" (Finland, 2012)

The film titled Road North is a quiet, understated road movie. When it comes to parenting, fathers—whether biological or adoptive—can rarely match the presence of a mother.

An obese elderly man suddenly sets out on a journey. One night, pianist Timo, who has achieved professional success, returns home to find an old man snoring loudly in front of his door.

The man turns out to be Timo’s estranged father Leo, who abandoned the family when Timo was three and hadn’t been heard from in 35 years. Leo is morbidly obese and struggles even to walk. One surprising scene shows him injecting insulin through his undershirt. Both the adoptive father and the adopted son suffer from

diabetes—a condition that often worsens with lifestyle. Leo’s thunderous snoring is a textbook case of sleep apnea. Incidentally, Finland is a global leader in snoring research.

In fact, this journey is a path to reunite Timo with people from his past: a sister who was thought to be dead, his grandmother, and his biological mother. Leo also proposes a

reunion with Timo’s estranged wife and child. Stepping in as a mediator, Leo helps to rekindle their bond.

At dawn, Leo quietly tries to leave in a taxi, heading to a rural village where he had often called a stable. Timo follows him—and there, he finds his biological mother living her quiet life.

Finland, a Nordic land far removed from the island nation of Japan, rarely reaches Japanese screens. While audiences may be familiar with Swedish cinema since Bergman’s time, Finnish films remain uncommon. Blending jazz improvisation and light humor into the narrative, the film gently poses a poignant question: was it truly music, dreams, or love that they played along the way? When death approaches, do we all set off on a journey of redemption?

"Road North"

Opening in theaters nationwide from Saturday, January 11, 2014Starting at Theatre Image Forum and others

(C) Road North

Distributed by: ALCINE TERRAN