THEY CALLED IT FILTH. IT BECAME A REVOLUTION.
After fighting in World War II, Finnish veteran Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang) tries to find himself, as a gay man in a society that won’t tolerate it, and as a fledgling artist. He was certainly controversial, with his drawings of men in leather and tight jeans, sporting bulging erections. This conventional biography chronicles the rise of Tom of Finland, from early painful and embarrassing homosexual experiences to Laaksonen finding himself an icon in the gay liberation movement decades later. Interesting, but the film itself needs some of that frisky attitude from Laaksonen’s art.
2017-Finland-Sweden-Denmark-Germany-U.S. 117 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Dome Karukoski. Cast: Pekka Strang (Touko Laaksonen), Lauri Tilkanen (Veli), Jessica Grabowsky (Kaija Laaksonen), Taisto Oksanen, Seumas Sargent, Jakob Oftebro.