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Critics Consensus: Tom of Finland honors its subject with an empathetic, even-handed, and above all entertaining look at the pioneering art he produced from private turmoil.
Critic Consensus: Tom of Finland honors its subject with an empathetic, even-handed, and above all entertaining look at the pioneering art he produced from private turmoil.
All Critics (59) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (11)
In a subtle but wily performance, Strang never loses sight of his character's innate sense of resistance.
Karukoski turns a promising story into a flat, clammy bore.
In the end, the overarching theme of "Tom of Finland" is the power of art, even - or maybe especially - so-called deviant art.
"Tom of Finland" entertainingly recounts an intriguing and vital chapter of 20th-century gay history with style and deference.
Tom of Finland is a good, strong movie, but never threatens to be great. One salivates at the adventurous directions the film could have explored.
Why does Tom of Finland play like an over-cited term paper? The film is jammed with incident and detail but there's little flow to the storytelling ...
Tom always saw himself as an artist first and foremost, and thankfully, so does Dome Karukoski's film.
Leathermen, homoeroticism, beefcake-three things you should not expect from the film Tom of Finland.
As disappointments at the movies go, this one hurts more than most.
Karukoski's biopic treats the man in question with respect, keen to introduce him to an audience who may not be familiar with the work he did that changed so many peoples' lives, encouraging them to be who they were and not suffer in silence.
Award-winning filmmaker Dome Karukoski lovingly tells the story of iconic Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen...
Beautifully shot and punctuated with powerful moments [...] it nicely depicts this unassuming man who changed the world.
The film has a strong visual sense and for the better part of the film is very interesting. My biggest issue with the film is the lack of depth in character study, you don't learn a lot about the era or the criticisms faced by Touko Laaksonen. The film is a lot of fun and they cover quite a range but there is a massive disconnect with the character interaction, I wanted to have more confrontations with his sister or his partner. Some of the best sections are in the first half of the film before we are thrown into a quick ending that doesn't provide a lot of insight. I really enjoyed the camera work and filmmaking but as a whole the film isn't that strong and another film could open the world a lot more in the future. 02-03-2018.
Super Reviewer
It is surprising that an artist who defiantly inflamed white-hot controversy might have had a personal story advancing more slowly than a Finish glacier. The acting and technical aspects of the film are all good -- I just wish something nontechnical happened on screen.
NO-MO-EROTIC - My Review of TOM OF FINLAND (2 Stars) How could a film about a legendary gay artist who pushed the envelope with his intensely sexualized images of impossibly beefy men be so unsexy and dull? If that was their intention, then they pulled it off! TOM OF FINLAND, directed by Dome Karukoski with a screenplay by Aleksi Bardy and six (SIX!!) other credited writing assists, means well, and tells a important story in gay history, but man is it a long slog. Born Touko Valio Laaksonen in 1920 and played by the extremely charisma-free Pekka Strang, the film rather artfully intercuts his time as a World War II soldier with his struggles to live as a gay man in Finland. It was a time of arrests, bar raids, and bullying if you were perceived to be gay. Touch retreats into his fascination with art, drawing image after image of pumped-up gay men. It was his way of giving to the community a powerful avatar, ones that could fight back against oppression and express desires many wouldn't dare to do. Eventually, he would be discovered in Los Angeles, where he traveled and built a loyal, adoring audience. The looks of 1970s butch and leather men were inspired by his work, instilling in the gay community a heretofore untapped confidence to stand up to its oppressors. As such, Tom of Finland, as he was eventually called, can stand beside the Stonewall Rioters as an integral part of the early gay rights movement. Karukoski knows how to tell a visual story and there's something magnanimous and touching about Tom's journey. This quiet, unassuming man stayed that way even while others adored him. It's a lesson in humility in the face of success. The film has its moments, especially in the Los Angeles section, where it picks up some much-needed steam. I enjoyed the sequences where they seek out a Hassidic Printer, who may be their last hope after getting rejected by everyone else. The AIDS crisis also rears its ugly head, further cementing the inspiring work Tom did and how it made people feel good despite the horrors surrounding them. Pekka Strang may be accurately portraying Tom, but if so, it doesn't make for compelling viewing. I just didn't really care to follow around this dullard for very long. It made me realize that a film can be important and unbearable simultaneously!
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