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Finnish drama set in the 1970s about a female ex-convict who becomes an assistant to a blind elderly pastor. More
Leila, a murderer pardoned after serving 12 years of her life sentence, takes on the role as a letter-reader to a visually-impaired priest. Once the letters stop coming, her scepticism and rage is challenged when the preacher spirals into despair and their bond grows deeper. Hide
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Klaus Härö’s Letters to Father Jacob begs to be praised for its loveliness: the cinematography is exquisite - with its painterly compositions of the remote Finnish countryside, the beautifully lit interiors of the film’s leaky, dilapidated house - and the Jussi-winning performances from Kaarina Hazard and Heikki Nousiainen are touching in their unlikely relationship. But despite all this, there’s a transparency to what it’s doing that feels a little too calculated to completely resonate. More
Both Hazard and Nousiainen are well-cast but they emerge more walking signposts for those heavy Bergman-esque themes of faith and redemption rather than fully realised characters we can embrace. Hazard’s stern-faced, thickset Leila Sten, pardoned after serving 12 years of a life sentence, grimly carries the burden of her past, the details of which aren’t revealed until a mawkishly contrived ending, while Father Jacob, the elderly blind priest she goes to work for reading and replying letters, is faced with the possibility that his purpose in life is coming to an end.
Scored to generically mournful plinky-piano, Letters to Father Jacob works best in low-key moments focusing on thawing Sten's icy personality via Jacob's innate warmth and openness. But when it tries to milk too much humour from the premise - Sten's strong-arming of the postie who thinks she's up to no good uncomfortably verges on slapstick - it’s uncharacteristically jarring. The brief 74-minute running time should, in theory, serve a stripped-down two-hander such as this, but unfortunately the film doesn't leave an impression of narrative economy, more of deflating, inconsequential wispiness. Hide
2 ratings and 2 reviews
Someone got it so I'll just quote Graeme Tuckett from the Dominion Post:
"Klaus Haro's Letters to Father Jacob is the simplest of two-handers, played out by a couple of startlingly real and accomplished actors, with more to say about humanity, belief, and compassion in its 74 minutes than most film-makers could hope for in a career."
Hollywood couldn't portray this kind of story. Great story and acting.
A stirring example of just what can be accomplished in a mere 74 minutes. Full review.
A story of faith expressed with simple grace and the small deeds of a pardoned sinner still searching for forgiveness. It is like a minimalist stage play -- three acts, two characters, quietly redemptive. Full review.
Transforms a picture-postcard location and odd-couple narrative into a pretty, and pretty predictable, snooze. Full review.
More to say about humanity, belief, and compassion in its 74 minutes than most film-makers could hope for in a career. Full review.
A simple but transcendent story about faith and human frailty achieves a state of grace in "Letters to Father Jacob." Beautiful... Full review.
Looks intruiging
Looks good, going to se E it tomorrow
Saw it last weekend wonderful in a subdued intense way, felt like a play
Bleak and great.