New Kaurismäki Film: The Girl King

Eppu4 Comments

The Girl King movie posterI’ve been vaguely aware of the Swedish-Finnish movie production The Girl King (Finnish title Tyttökuningas), which is remarkable for having been largely (according to some sources, almost entirely) filmed in Turku, Finland, including the local castle. It’s one week from opening night now, and reviews and interviews are starting to roll out. Yay!

The movie is about Queen Kristina of Sweden (1626-1689), of the Vasa lineage, directed by Finland’s famous Mika Kaurismäki. In the main roles we’ll see Malin Buska, Sarah Gadon (whom I liked in Belle), and Michael Nyqvist (familiar from the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series). A description from Kaurismäki’s website says:

“Mika Kaurismäki is currently developing a feature film project about the Swedish Queen Kristina, starring Swedish actress Malin Buska. Set in the 17th century, the film paints a portrait of an extravagant and atypical queen, who was the ruler of her country from the age of seven until her startling abdication at 28.

“The film is scripted by Canadian award-winning screenwriter Michel Marc Bouchard and the cinematography will be by renowned Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love, Hero).”

Queen Kristina and René Decartes

At the time of Kristina’s life, Finland was a part of Sweden, and Turku (Åbo in Swedish) was the oldest and largest city in Finland. The Turku Castle dates from late 13th century, but it was still inhabited and garrisoned at the time; in the modern period, it’s been restored to its Renaissance state, so it’s an appropriate location even though Kristina didn’t actually live there. (Tidbit gleaned from a news article in Yle uutiset: Kristina’s parents visited Turku early in 1626, and it’s said that she was conceived at the Turku Castle.) Also, kuningatar Kristiina has a special place in the Finnish memory because of her efforts to end the 30 years’ war which was hard on Finland, and because she at the suggestion of one of her statesmen (and twice Governor General of Finland), Per Brahe, founded the first Finnish university in 1640.

The official trailer (with Finnish subtitles) is out, and looking gorgeous:

Tyttökuningas (The Girl King) -elokuvan virallinen traileri via LeffatByFSFilm

Frock Flicks has a interview with the costume designer, Marjatta Nissinen, and a review that includes insights into the costuming. There’s also a documentary on the costuming, with background information from Kaurismäki and closeups of some of the outfits in the latter half (Finnish with English subtitles):

Dressing The Girl King -documentary by Film City Turku and Länsi-Suomen elokuvakomissio via Scene Turku

As an early history geek who lived in Turku for a number of years, I’m very curious to see The Girl King – for freaking once I get the native advantage in location spotting! 😀

Historical Turku Mashup
Turku historical mashup, clockwise from top: 1700s-1800s houses at Luostarinmäki; bell tower of the cathedral seen from the river Aura; Vanha Suurtori with empire style and neoclassical houses; closeup of the cathedral bell tower. Center: Turku Castle

But seriously, what I can see of the sets and locations, especially the Renaissance floor of the castle, looks fantastic. Here’s hoping that The Girl King will have a reasonably wide release in the U.S.!

Images: Poster via Lark Theater. Queen Kristina & René Decartes via Frock Flicks. Turku historical mashup by Eppu Jensen

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

 

Gamer Girls ca. 330 BCE

Erik
Image: via Esther MacCallum Stewart
Two girls playing knuckleones via Esther MacCallum Stewart

Not that this should come as any surprise to anyone, but girls have been gamers for over 2,000 years.

Here’s a statuette of two girls playing knucklebones from ca. 330 BCE. In the ancient Mediterranean, the heel bones of sheep (commonly, though inaccurately, called “knucklebones” in English) were used for playing a variety of games, as they still are in many parts of the world today. They could be rolled like dice or gathered up in games similar to jacks, which is what these two appear to be doing.

Knucklebones crossed the whole spectrum of ancient society. Men and women, girls and boys all played. The Greek comic playwright Aristophanes mentions them as the toys of poor children (The Wasps 295) while Suetonius quotes a letter by the Roman emperor Augustus enthusiastically recounting his gaming exploits (The Deified Augustus 71). It is hard to think of a pastime that is so widely shared today.

Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.

A Neufchatel Hope

Erik

We start on the original trilogy with this Tatooine-orange pumpkin cheesecake which uses neufchatel cheese in place of cream cheese.

A Neuchatel Hope

 

 

 

Crust

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. butter
  • 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of salt

Melt the butter.

Mix the crumbs, almond meal, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter and mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture in a buttered pie pan an pat out evenly.

Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 10 minutes or until the crust is set

Filling

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 pound neufchatel cheese
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup roasted pumpkin puree

You can use canned pumpkin or roast your own. To roast, split a pumpkin into two halves from top to bottom and scoop out the seeds. Lay both halves inner side down in a broad shallow pan with just enough water to cover the bottom and roast at 400 F / 200 C for 1-2 hours or until the flesh of the pumpkin comes away from the skin easily. Roasted pumpkin freezes well and what you don’t use for this cheesecake you can save for the future.

Mix brown sugar and spices in a small bowl.

Beat the neufchatel cheese in a large bowl until smooth.  Add the sugar mixture and beat until well mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl well after each addition.

Add the pumpkin and beat well.

Put a pan of water in the oven to moisten the air while the cheesecake cooks.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 350 F / 175 C for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325 F / 160 C for another 10 minutes.

Let the cheesecake sit until well cooled.

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

 

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode IV

Erik

Our Star Wars rewatch dives into the original trilogy with Episode IV – A New Hope.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: Escaping the Death Star, Han and Luke at Millennium Falcon’s guns face off four T.I.E. fighters.

Erik: Han’s running battle with stormtroopers in the corridors of the Death Star. It gives you a real sense of Han’s fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants character.

2. Best Line

Erik: “Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?” Obi-Wan shutting up Han.

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"Eppu: It’s a tie between “That’s no moon. It’s a space station,” so memorably delivered by Alec Guinness, and “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” by Leia, said from her Death Star cell to Luke who was about to rescue her.

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: Lt. Pol Treidum, the Imperial gantry officer who almost discovers Luke and Han in their stormtrooper disguises (he’s the one who says “TK-421, why aren’t you at your post? TK-421, do you copy?”). He’s such an efficient problem-solver that any operation should be glad to have him. What does he get for his troubles? Whacked on his head by Chewbacca; poor thing.

Erik: Aunt Beru. She’s the one who really understands Luke and who gets why he doesn’t want to stay on Tatooine and be a moisture farmer.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: Luke can still hear Obi-Wan even when Obi-Wan is gone. Episode IV is tantalizingly vague about just what the Force is and what it can do, but when Luke hears Obi-Wan’s voice, it’s clear that there is something real and powerful to this “ancient religion.”

Eppu: Ben Kenobi = Obi-Wan Kenobi. Such nostalgia.

5. Best Save

Eppu: At the end, during the rebels’ last attack run on the death Star, Han blasts Vader’s T.I.E. fighter so that Luke can take his shot.

Erik: When Leia grabs a gun and blasts open an escape route from the detention block. Just because she’s a princess who needs rescuing doesn’t mean she won’t step up and get blasting once she gets a chance.

6. Best Visual

151203DSMFErik: The Millennium Falcon being tractored into the Death Star docking bay. You really feel just how massive the Death Star is.

Eppu: The first four rebel X-wings in a line pivoting and diving down towards the surface of the Death Star trench to start their attack run. A clumsy and slow special effect by today’s standards, but nostalgia!

Extra: Best Nostalgia moment

Eppu: The beginning scroll with John Williams’s theme! Also, Vader’s looooong ship pursuing Leia’s in the very beginning.

Erik: Han on the radio trying to cover for their jailbreak. It’s just as funny today as the first time I saw the movie.

151203Han

Images: “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” via Little Pink Stormtrooper on reddit. Millennium Falcon and Death Star via st-v-sw.net. “We’re all fine here now” via mama loves tech

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Captain America: Civil War Trailer Published

Eppu

The first trailer for Captain America: Civil War is here:

Captain America: Civil War – Trailer World Premiere via Jimmy Kimmel Live

Looks cool and MCU-Captain-y! I’m looking forward to seeing more of my favorites – Cap, Falcon, Black Widow, Sharon Carter / Agent 13. I liked Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, too, and T’Challa / Black Panther looks cool.

Six months to May 2016 sounds very long! Fortunately there’s lots to tide us over.

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

Fantasy Religions: Interacting With the Divine

Erik1 Comment

151130sacrificeIn the previous installment in the fantasy religions series, we looked at how people following traditional religious customs often perceive the divine around them in physical, tangible forms. Today we turn to the question: how do you interact with such divine forces?

There’s an old joke that says a young man went to his priest one day and declared: “I’m an atheist! I don’t believe in god!” And the priest replied: “Do you think He cares?”

It’s a good joke, but in the doctrines of Christianity, as in the other modern monotheisms, Judaism and Islam, belief matters a great deal. Believing in a god and a certain set of ideas about that god and humanity’s relationship to him/her/it is what defines membership in the religions we are most familiar with in the modern west. Not that everyone is in lockstep about their beliefs: modern religions can have enormous debates about what to believe, but belief is still at the center.

In most traditional religions, belief is a non-issue. As we saw before, peoples following traditional religions see the divine presence in the physical world in a literal, not metaphysical way. To an ancient Gaul, Belenus was not just the god of the sun, the sun itself was Belenus. To say to an ancient Gaul: “I don’t believe in Belenus” would be like saying: “I don’t believe in the sun.” Their response would probably not be: “Do you think he cares?” but: “Well, what do you think is shining on you, idiot?” There were no professions of belief in traditional religions, no creeds or catechisms, no inquisitions or doctrinal schisms.

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Revenge of the Crisp

Erik

Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but this apple crisp is best enjoyed warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Revenge of the Crisp

Ingredients

  • 5 apples (I recommend Cortlands, but any variety you like will do)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter

Butter a baking dish

Core, peel, and dice the apples

Toss the apple pieces with the spices and salt, then place in the dish

Combine the flour, oatmeal, and sugar; cut the butter into the mixture until it forms fine crumbs

Spread the butter crumb mixture over the apples

Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 40 mintues

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode III

Erik

The rewatch continues with Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: The first part of the Obi-Wan vs. Anakin fight on Mustafa. The second part (after they leave the facility and fight outside) doesn’t work for me; it’s too prolonged.

Erik: Yoda vs. Darth Sidious in the Senate chamber.  Ian MacDiarmid’s performance as Palpatine is nicely subtle and nuanced. As Sidious, he chews the scenery up one side and down the other and it’s glorious.

2. Best Line

Erik: Palpatine: “Good is a point of view.” One of the most chilling hints we get in this movie that the difference between the Jedi and the Sith is not so great as we might have thought.

Jedimaster Tumblr Another Happy LandingEppu: “Another happy landing.” Obi-Wan after crash landing the droid cruiser that “kidnapped” Palpatine was kept on. Ewan McGregor’s delivery retains just a little of a young man’s cockiness that he’s not supposed to have as a Jedi master.

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: Well, there weren’t that many minor characters (with lines) in this movie. It’ll have to be Senator Organa.

151126CodyErik: Commander Cody. He has a nice bantering relationship with Obi-Wan, before the whole Order 66 thing happens.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: When the clones start attack the Jedi. We knew it was going to happen, but it’s still shocking how easily they switch sides.

Eppu: Palpatine so callously trading Dooku in for a younger apprentice. The expression on Dooku’s face was of such shock, there’s no way he saw it coming, which means Palpatine’s successfully played him for years if not decades. This man clearly would sacrifice anything and anyone to get where he wants, in case anyone was still wondering.

5. Best Save

Eppu: Again, Obi-Wan and Anakin crash landing the droid cruiser that “kidnapped” Palpatine was kept on. How epic is that!

Erik: When Yoda kills the clones who were coming to Order-66 him. You don’t get to be head of the Jedi council by collecting box tops.

6. Best Visual

151126templeErik: Anakin/Vader entering the Jedi temple with clone troops behind him. One of the few times that Hayden Christensen actually managed to be as menacing as the character was supposed to be.

Eppu: In the very beginning, two one-man fighters rotate around a cruiser and reveal a huge space battle over Coruscant. Of course, there’s no sound in space, but the hand-waved-let’s-pretend-there-is sound design worked so seamlessly with the visual that I’m willing to forgive it – just this once.

Extra: Best Foreshadowing

Eppu: Visibly pregnant Padmé in a completely black outfit after Obi-Wan left Coruscant to go after Grievous and Anakin came to see her. Easy to miss its significance, because Padmé has worn navy blue or other dark-colored dresses before. Of course we know what her fate’s going to be, but it’s a nice reflection of the future in a visual form.

Erik: Palpatine in the chair on the droid command ship, ready to sacrifice one apprentice in order to gain another. Comparing this scene with its echo in Return of the Jedi says so much about the difference between Anakin and Luke.

Images: Another happy landing via The Jedi Master. Commander Cody via Jedi Temple Archives. Attack on Jedi Temple via Wookiepedia

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Quotes: Men Everywhere, Doing Everything

Eppu

“When we say men, man, manly, manhood, and all the other masculine derivatives, we have in the background of our minds a huge vague crowded picture of the world and all its activities. […] That vast background is full of marching columns of men, of changing lines of men, of long processions of men; of men steering their ships into new seas, exploring unknown mountains, breaking horses, herding cattle, ploughing and sowing and reaping, toiling at the forge and furnace, digging in the mine, building roads and bridges and high cathedrals, managing great businesses, teaching in all the colleges, preaching in all the churches; of men everywhere, doing everything – ‘the world.’

“And when we say women, we think female – the sex.”

– Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland

View from a 100 years ago.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. Edited by Kathy Casey. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1998 [originally published 1915], p. 116.

(This quote comes from my 21 new-to-me SFF authors reading project. Note: A free e-version is available on Project Gutenberg.)

This post has been edited for clarity.

Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.