2017 · drama · biography · lgbt
Tom of Finland
Directed by Dome Karukoski1h 56m2017
Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.
Our read: Tom of Finland (2017) reads as a neutral, steady, grounded drama · biography · lgbt entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.
Neutral, steady, measured drama / biography, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
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Availability in the UK · via JustWatch
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How Tom of Finland feels to watch.
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“You want stylish queer history about art, shame, and finding your tribe.”
Skip it tonight — Explicit homoerotic art and military-era repression aren't your lane.
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