Tom of Finland is a 2017 biographical drama film directed by Dome Karukoski and written by Aleksi Bardy. It stars Pekka Strang as Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, a Finnish homoerotic artist.[6]

Tom of Finland
Finnish theatrical release poster
Directed byDome Karukoski
Written byAleksi Bardy
Produced by
  • Aleksi Bardy
  • Miia Haavisto
  • Annika Sucksdorff
Starring
CinematographyLasse Frank
Edited byHarri Ylönen
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 27 January 2017 (2017-01-27) (Gothenburg)
  • 24 February 2017 (2017-02-24) (Finland)
  • 3 March 2017 (2017-03-03) (Sweden)
  • 5 October 2017 (2017-10-05) (Germany)
  • 13 October 2017 (2017-10-13) (United States)
Running time
115 minutes
Countries
  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Denmark
  • Germany[1]
  • United States[2]
Languages
  • Finnish
  • English
Budget€3.8 million[3]
Box office$1.8 million[4][5]

Tom of Finland premiered on 27 January 2017 at Gothenburg Film Festival and was released theatrically in Finland on 24 February 2017.[3] It was selected as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[7][8]

Premise

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Touko Laaksonen returns home after serving in World War II. In post-war Helsinki, he makes a name for himself with his homoerotic drawings of muscular men. Before finding fame, he finds challenges from his sister and Finnish society due to his art.

Cast

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Reception

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Awards

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At the 2016 Finnish Film Affair (a "work-in-progress forum" running alongside the Helsinki International Film Festival), Tom of Finland shared the Best Pitch prize, splitting the award money with Post Punk Disorder.[9][10]

At the 2017 Göteborg Film Festival, the film won the Fipresci Award.[11][12]

Critical reception

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Tom of Finland honors its subject with an empathetic, even-handed, and above all entertaining look at the pioneering art he produced from private turmoil."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lodge, Guy (11 February 2017). "Film Review: 'Tom of Finland'". Variety.
  2. ^ "Tom of Finland". Gothenburg Film Festival. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Karukoski Announces Tom Of Finland Cast In Berlin". Nordic Drama. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Tom of Finland". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Tom of Finland". The Numbers. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  6. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (15 September 2016). "Protagonist, Helsinki Filmi Unveil 'Tom of Finland' Teaser". Variety. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Tom of Finland valittiin Suomen Oscar-ehdokkaaksi". Kaleva. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Tom of Finland film to vie for foreign-language Oscar nomination". Yle. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  9. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (22 September 2016). "'Post Punk Disorder,' 'Tom of Finland' Scoop Finnish Film Affair Awards". Variety.
  10. ^ Aftab, Kaleem (23 September 2016). "Finnish Film Affair: 'Tom Of Finland', 'Punk Syndrome' split Best Pitch prize". Screen Daily.
  11. ^ Alissa Simon (4 February 2017). "'Sámi Blood' Tops 40th Goteborg Film Festival". Variety.
  12. ^ "Here are the Dragon Award winners" (Press release). Gothenburg Film Festival. 4 February 2017. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Tom of Finland (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  14. ^ "Tom of Finland Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
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