Main Cast: Sanna-Kaisa Palo, Peter Franzen, Samuli Vauramo, Jenni Banerjee, Elina Knihtila
Release Year: 2008
Country: FI
Run Time: 94 minutes
Plot
One headstrong woman tries to keep her oddball family from heading off the rails in this bizarre comedy. Martta (Sanna-Kaisa Palo) and Otto (Heikki Kinnunen) are a pair of traveling tailors who claim to be bastard descendents of the Romanovs and wander from town to town seeking work, accompanied by their three half-witted adult sons, Hippo (Tuomas Uusitalo), Repe (Tatu Siivonen) and Ventti (Toni Wahlstrom). The family occasionally turns to crime when they can't quite make ends meet, and the boys begin turning to violence with greater frequency when Otto unexpectedly dies and Martta becomes the head of the family business. Their fortunes take an unexpected turn when the brothers assault and abduct a man they call Kaspar (Samuli Vauramo), who becomes the family's sidekick in their travels. Despite Kaspar's inability to speak, he attracts a new member of the gang, an attractive young woman named Lara (Jenni Banerjee), but the balance of the family is thrown for a loop when a long-lost fourth brother, Laszlo (Peter Franzen), suddenly re-emerges and tries to wrest control of the business away from his mom. Lieksa! (aka The Matriarch) received it premiere at the 2008 Midnight Sun Film Festival, held in Finland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Cast
Sanna-Kaisa Palo - Martta
Peter Franzen - Laszlo
Samuli Vauramo
Jenni Banerjee - Lara
Elina Knihtila
Heikki Kinnunen - Otto; Tatu Siivonen - Repe; Toni Wahlstrom - Ventti; Tuomas Uusitalo; Lotta Lehtikari; Puntii Valtonen; Kaarina Turunen; Janne Reinikainen; Ismo Apell; Mika Nuojua; Heikki Hela; Emma Piitulainen
Credit
Tina Kaukanen - Costume Designer, Markku Polonen - Director, Markku Polonen - Editor, Vesa Makinen - Composer (Music Score), Petri Neuvonen - Production Designer, Jan Nyman - Cinematographer, Petri Rossi - Producer, Jenni Lahteenmaki - Producer, Satu Sadinkangas - Producer, Markku Polonen - Screenwriter
