Back in 2015 I went to IFFR with an 8-hour film called Sleep. This felt excessive at the time, but Rotterdam handled it with admirable calm. In 2023 I returned, slightly older but no wiser, to play a cryptomillionaire in Matti Harju’s debut feature Natura. This, too, felt like a reasonable thing to do.
Now I am going back again.
This time it’s Nox. Sixty-six minutes. Compact. Efficient. Almost suspiciously normal in length. Directed, once again, by Matti Harju, Finland’s most reliable exporter of melancholia, men in nondescript cars, and situations that are busy with stuff. The film will have several screenings at IFFR 2026, complete with rain, attitude, and the strong possibility that things could go out of hand — though probably not in any way you expect.
According to IFFR, Nox is a Finnish backwoods noir. According to me, it is a film where expectations are carefully raised, gently mocked, and then fulfilled sideways. There are no heists. There is no bloodshed. There is, however, a lot of mood, casual humour, laconic wit, and men doing things because that’s what men apparently do after driving somewhere.
I will be in Rotterdam with Matti. Also Eetu-Matti from the cast will join. We will attend screenings, Q&As, and possibly stand around looking thoughtful.
Rotterdam, we meet again.
Still uncategorised.
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