Varasto (2011)

I was positively surprised by Varasto (dir. Taru Mäkelä). One might see it as a light comedy with streaks of sitcom-TV logic, but it is also possible to see the film as a critique of class society. The film might have a humorous tone, but the image of the working class in contemporary Finland is very harsh. Anyone can be thrown into the fringes of society. Rouska and Raninen works in warehouse section of a paint shop. The job bores them and they kill time by playing darts. Rousks has an on/off affair with Karita. To earn a few extra euros, he makes under-the-table business with supplies from the store which he sells to a cynical communist. Rouska lives the ordinary bachelor life (eating meatballs directly from the package) until two things happens. Karita gets pregnant and the boss starts looking into the inventory in the shop. The tone of Varasto is sometimes just as cynical as the persons. Trust isn't possible; one always has to keep one's eye open so not to get screwed. The characters do everything to drive home their interests, at the workplace but also in private relations. The film does not take the perspective that this is how life has to be, but rather, that a specific economic situation is imprinted in people in the form of self deception. One might complain that the characters in the film remain one-dimensional stereotypes, but to be honest I didn't have that problem. Varasto is a good example of how a comedy can treat societal issues withiut becoming too preachy. In this, it has much in common with American screwball comedies from the thirties.