Review: ACTION HERO at TAMPERE WORKER'S THEATER

Before anything else: you can still see Action Hero yourself - if there are any tickets. The last shows run on 10.2. and 11.2.!

Playwright-Director Liila Jokelin's Action Hero is an excellent take on modern topics that young people and artists have to think about: if woman likes to be spanked, is it okay to use that on screen? Is it okay to lie a little just to make your co-workers a little more excited? Men still like boobs even though you'd free the nipple at the beach's rocks, ay?

"I wanted to work with Action movies' ideologies and structures. This quick-witted comedy handles gender, generations, power structures, art and love. My mission is to release the viewer from the pressure of saving the world - even for a moment. We all thirst after a better reality and better fiction! But at what cost?" Liila tells on the show's web page.

First of all I think the rhythm in this was great. At first I was confused about the filming on stage but then I remembered reading that it is from a movie set. I was trying to see where are the Westerberg-like projections laid on.

The lighting design especially its colors and effects like being underwater from Niklas Vainio are excellent and well fitting to different situations. Also the voice filter on the Scarlett-Vechile and later on Lord of darkness is great and well thought of. Karoliina Vanne takes well on many roles but I enjoyed the most of her robotic movements that are finely tuned for the live fiction. She clearly has fun doing Scarlett-Vechile. Also the very vehicle itself they all drove was a great craft!

In general I noticed that at first the energy in the performers' voices were lacking energy a little but then I remembered, again, that they must have tried to imitate the laconic speaking we always hear in Action films. Though I did think that what if the voices were just mixed a little louder while they were filming on the set? Just to give us a movie-effect.

Riikka Mäntymaa's costume design enhances the story telling and also brings nice contrast especially to Petteri's (Pyry Kähkönen) character. Kähkönen switches adorably well from a good friend to a hero to a sulking cub. And towards the end we get some kinky leather on almost everone as well - yay!

Kinky style also suits our evil Lord, father of our leading lady, Rolf (Jyrki Mänttäri) who makes a good point that couldn't they mix a little Finnish Folklore Kalevala to already symbolism-mixed Anubis character. His acting style is very rooted and verbally he knows how to bring realistic speech on stage, maybe adding a little improvisation here and there? Which worked!

Visually my favorite detail was how Petteri stood in his orange T-shirt in a turquoise light and smoke *cheff kiss*. Right after this note I've written down: "Dad - thump. Omg." That was my reaction: omg. Well done!

I'd argue that the ending with its little twist was a little cornish, though cuteish. The scenic image at the very end worked quite well: Petteri was submitted on the ground while Riikka (Inke Koskinen) basked in glory of the workgroup. It was very symbolic in terms of powerplay and also filled Riikka's fantasy of the film's ending in real life.

Nonetheless Jokelin's writing is filled with some very accurate observations of passionate artists who want to break patriarchal structures, older lads who just want to eat meat and share memories of shirtless exchange students on the seaside... Also a shy lady who actually just wants to get spanked. Like a silent Bond girl. It was a very intense scene by the way and well directed: my first thought was oh my god, no domestic violence now, but then it all took a completely different turn.

The scenes we get before and after interval are well balanced and thought of. We get the most in the first half but are left with questions until the second, getting the final pieces of the cake. It's also opened up with Reetta listening to motivational sermons, which is very typical to our generation. I blame the Neptune that's in Capricorn in everyone born between Jan 1984 - Feb 1998, giving us the thrive to be discerning, liberating leaders. And ah, before I forget: the scene where they said that let's wrap up the day, good bye and the lights just fade off and soon come back and then the actors just emerge from behind the same curtains they just went to few seconds ago, yawned and said good morning. Hilaramazing.

The scene where Stella (Reetta's action character) had to make a decision of her dreams and co-existing futures that were gripped in all fours (hands and feet - the actor sat behind a curtain on a stool) was wonderful! Also the comment on postmodernism was nicely philosophical. The set itself gives a lot of freedom to use imagination because all the details can be done in the editing, as Tommi says. Though as a Metropolia UAS student I must state that we have some excellent talents there in terms of film making. Yes, it's not Aalto but on a personal level the UAS joke was a little old-fashioned.

Inke Koskinen took well the layers and emotions of a jokapaikanhöylä (a person who does a little bit of everything in a production and says yes to all tasks) a director who has a meltdown and then tries to explain herself constructively. She hasn't taken an intimacy choreograph training but she still tries her best by the power of YouTube tutorials.

In general the scenes also included many inside jokes from the field, for example a Chekhov-like excercise: "When I support you and you support me and we succeed!"

Anssi Lankinen, who in real life is a stage master, was certainly a type cast and a well done one. He played Tommi, the cameraman, an archetype of an anyguy - a common person so to speak - and excelled at it! He even assisted Pyry outside of the fiction-fiction to bow in line at the end.

I want to thank the whole team. This was very exhilarating piece of art. Jokelin, I'll be watching your journey closely!

Also thanks for making a trailer to your piece that was filmed in the actual setting. It's not so common but absolutely efficient.

Lisää tämmöstä.

Review: Rosanna Ilo Liuski
Photos: Kari Sunnari