Heavy Trip (2018, Finland)

[Edgy MD]

In a Finnish backwater where apparently nobody ever escapes their provincial isolation, a local death metal band is in their 12th year of rehearsing in the basement of a reindeer slaughterhouse, still unsure about what direction to take the band. Though their dark and diabolical grind, ethic, and aesthetic leads to alienation and antagonism from the local citizenry, the band is clearly a collection of the most genial, decent young men in town. After finally creating their first original song, they commit to journeying out of town and into Norway (!) for a high-profile death metal festival, despite being unable to get a booking.



Hi-jinx cannot help but ensue. And ensue they do.



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[smg58]

That looks like fun.

[Edgy MD]

I certainly enjoyed it more than I thought I would. You'll love the protagonists. Also, they also have several shots that baldfacedly reference famous scenes from the English-language films you know and love, but they're placed in there oddly enough that you don't feel pandered to.



They play fast and loose with jokes at the expense of animals, though, and you may subtract a star if that's the sort of thing that makes you subtract a star. Some occult jokes too, naturally.

[Edgy MD]

No Mets on tonight? What a good night to take in a viewing of Heavy Trip.

[smg58]

My wife is already in bed. And my friend who's into Nordic heavy metal is attending a Nordic heavy metal concert.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: No Mets on tonight? What a good night to take in a viewing of Heavy Trip.

Wifey is resisting a viewing so far. Maybe this weekend.



EDIT ... Is it "too heavy" for a 13 year old?

[Edgy MD]

No dix. No bewbz. Occasional F-bombs, a brief implied zex scene with a lothario ham of a musician banging a groupie. A few jokes about the matter-of-factness of metalheads being diabolists, animal butchery gags, and puke gags too. An unexpected death of a likeable character. And a little BREAKIN' THE LAW! BREAKIN' THE LAW!. Maybe the odd grave-robbing.



In other words, a bunch of stuff 13-year-olds LOVE in their movies. Not so much stuff that moms love about what 13-year-olds love in their movies.



Surprisingly follow-able, despite being subtitled, because Finnish is allegedly so different even from the other Scandanavian languages, that when they converse even with Norwegians, the common language is English.



Might be even a little more fun for a family to enjoy after a trip to the low countries. Though I don't want to oversell it and have Ms. Bucket and the Bucketheads hate me forever. I'll try to get Ms. Edgy to weigh in.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The Edgy Seal of Approval is a big selling point. She won't consent to a movie recommended by me but by you, totally

[Edgy MD]

If anything, she liked it more than I did, but (1) she's uncharacteristically and almost inexplicably a sucker for almost any puke gag, and (2) her brother is a metuhl musician living the life (see below) , so the relatability of it all was even keener for her. She actually wants to own it, and owning films isn't her thing.



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[Johnny Lunchbucket]

So we watched this last night. Lunchpail lollled a lot. So did I. Wifey you could tell wanted to hate it but was won over by the charm of the characters.



Very predictable flick but nonetheless I was stunned what happened to Jynnky.



The best part deliberating the band name. Was dying

[Edgy MD]

Glad the Buckets enjoyed.

[Edgy MD]

Watched this again this evening. I picked up a couple of things I missed the first time around.



1) When not filled with ass-tearing dark metal music, the soundtrack is covered by crappy canned music that sounds like it came out of the background of an eighties American film.



2) The weekend warriors guarding the border are not only a comedy staple going back to the Keystone Kops, they also seem to be lifted right out of an Ivan Reitman/Second City company film.



3) It's a standing joke that the morbid bassist doubles as the town's librarian, but he really has a librarian's personality, with an encyclopedic memory and an appreciation for a strong backstory. Willets should watch it if only for that.