PEARLS AND PIGS (2004) [feature]

Finland (MIFF2004,Northern Lights 04 New Scandinavian Cinema)
Director: Pertuu Leppä
Pearls and Pigs (Helmiä ja Sikoja) Finland

Hand in your good taste at the door. This gross-out Finnish comedy revolves around single dad Erkki and his four stoner, twenty-something sons who run an illegal after-hours booze racket out of the back of a van. Most of the money they make is poured straight back into their own drunken, brawling antics and keeping their housing project pigsty stocked with chips, pizza and beer.

Deep in debt to a local gangster, they hatch a plan for an idiotic robbery. They all pass out drunk while holding up a liquor store but Erkki takes the rap. Now the quartet of morons is faced with paying back the thugs before their dad is bumped off in prison.

The family farce takes another turn with the entrance of a 10-year-old half sister the boys never knew they had. When they discover her significant singing talents, after a night of beer-soaked karaoke, the boys begin planning their next money-making scam. This one involves a kiddie version of American Idol and a scam that will net them a small fortune. Oh dear'

D/S Pertuu Leppä P Jarkko Hentula WS Nordisk Film International Sales L Finnish w/English subtitles TD 35mm/Col/2003/113mins

Pertuu Leppä was born in Joensuu, Finland in 1964. Films include: One-One (1990, short), Caravan (1993, short), A Long Hot Summer (1999).

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