JP Siili’s film is at its weakest like a musty breath straight from the 1990s.
Jami (Ville Myllyrinne) and PJ (Martti Suosalo) dream of drugs and get into various problems during their island adventure. AURORA STUDIOS
Mushroom excursion
Finland, 2022
Directed by: JP Siili
IL Rating: ⭐⭐
Mushroom trip the main stars Martti Suosalo and Ville Myllyrinne are experienced actors who succeed this time too within the framework provided by the script. Not once does it feel like they are unbelievable in their roles.
Also in the sideshows, safe actors familiar from TV series and movies can be seen, who slip into their familiar and unexpected roles without any complications. Included are, among others Vesa Vierikko, Fairy tale Silvo, Mint Mustakallio, Jaana Saarinen and Eero Ritala.
There are good sides to that JP Siilin (My brother’s keeper, Ganesh) scripted and directed comedy actually remain. Well, let’s also mention the beautiful island landscapes, where the camera sometimes lingers a little too long. When the main actors are sitting on the island by the campfire, contemplating life, the classic Paulig Juhla Mokka coffee commercials mostly come to mind.
Sieniretki tells the story of car dealer Jam (Ville Myllyrinne) and screenwriter PJ (Martti Suosalo), who have been best friends for years. Now, however, both want to get some air out of their everyday worries and head to the archipelago for the weekend.
The hook of the film is that the men decide to expand their consciousness with drugs during their journey. Of course, not everything goes according to plan, and in the archipelago the two meet characters and adversities that are more special than each other.
The thinness of the story is well illustrated by the fact that both of the film’s middle-aged protagonists have exactly one problem: JP’s latest manuscript has been rejected and he is looking to the archipelago (and mushrooms) for new inspiration for his writings. Jam, on the other hand, is stressed by the impending birth of his first child and the future role of a father.
The two discussed these issues with each other sometimes quite humanly, sometimes quite artificially. The film is at its best in the few scenes between Myllyrinne and Suosalo, which exude genuine closeness and caring. Unfortunately, such moments are rare in the film. At its worst, Sieniretket is treated as if it were an old domestic farce.
Humor in the film is tried to be twisted about, among other things, such well-worn things as nudity, male couples and, of course, alcohol.
“Don’t we have booze?” shouts PJ played by Suosalo in one scene. It inevitably comes to mind that maybe something like this would have been fun sometime in the 1990s.
Sieniertki premiered on Friday, September 30, 2022.