Risto Jarva 75 Years

A short excerpt off Onnenpeli by Risto Jarva (1965)


Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki: 'Bensaa suonissa' (off Bensaa suonissa by Risto Jarva, 1970)


Timo Tervo: 'Katseen kosketus' (off Mies, joka ei osannut sanoa ei by Risto Jarva, 1975)


An excerpt off Jäniksen vuosi by Risto Jarva (1977)

Today is the 75th birthday of Finnish film director Risto Jarva (15 July 1934 - 16 December 1977). You can read more about him here. In many ways Jarva was a product of his own time, whose works reflected the political ideas, social trends, fashions and general Zeitgeist of what was Finland in the 1960s and 1970s, and watching his often-topical films today, they might feel dated and even flawed in many ways, but for me Risto Jarva remains one of the most interesting directors this country has ever spawned, nevertheless.

30 Years Since Risto Jarva's Death

Risto Jarva and Antti Peippo during the filming of Ruusujen aika


It's been 30 years since the death in car accident of Risto Jarva, perhaps the most prominent film director in Finland before Aki Kaurismäki.

Risto Jarva (15 July 1934 - 16 December 1977) was one of the Finnish directors (alongside e.g. Maunu Kurkvaara, Erkko Kivikoski and Jaakko Pakkasvirta) who in the early 1960s took their cues from French new wave and modernism, thus breaking the nationalist-rural tradition that had been prevalent in Finland's cinema up to those days.

Such works as Onnenpeli (1965) and Työmiehen päiväkirja (1967) combined urbanist themes and social topics. Ruusujen aika (1969) is one of the rare examples of Finnish science fiction cinema. Bensaa suonissa (1970) and controversial Kun taivas putoaa... (1972) (based on the worst exploits of scandal press magazines such as Hymy and its most notorious writer Veikko Ennala) brought grim satirical overtones to social commentary. Yhden miehen sota (1973), perhaps the bleakest film of Jarva, follows the desperate attempts of a lone entrepreneur and his one-man excavator company.

After that Jarva's films took on a lighter note, though not abandoning social issues, and commercially, popular comedies starring Antti Litja, such as Mies joka ei osannut sanoa ei (1975), Loma (1976) and especially Jäniksen vuosi (1977, from a novel by Arto Paasilinna) were the biggest successes of Jarva's career until the death in taxi accident after the director was returning from a showing of Jäniksen vuosi for the invited guests cut his career short, thus giving a serious blow for Finnish cinema in general.


Rauli Badding Somerjoki: 'Bensaa suonissa' (off Risto Jarva's Bensaa suonissa, 1970)

Risto Jarva @ IMDB

Links in Finnish:

Risto Jarva -seura: a society dedicated to the director

Risto Jarva @ Elävä Arkisto

SEA

Wikipedia

Risto Jarva's Ruusujen aika on DVD

Risto Jarva (1934-1977) was one of Finland's most gifted film directors whose career was sadly cut short by his death in a car accident. Jarva, who was influenced among all by French "New Wave", was one of the first directors to take Finnish cinema out of its formerly provincial status. I saw Jarva's science fiction Ruusujen aika ("A Time of Roses", 1969) in 1990 when it was shown on local TV, and as an old fan of sci-fi cinema, have for years wanted to see it again, even though some current critics have called the film badly dated. So, the film is probably not the best one Risto Jarva ever made, but it nevertheless holds great curiosity value as a rare example of Finnish science fiction cinema. The film has been finally released as a DVD. -- Now, if I only owned a DVD player...