The old man, nicknamed Grumpy (Heikki Kinnunen), dies of his wife Hertt, with whom he lived for sixty years. The funeral is attended by Grumpy’s youngest son Hessu (Iikka Forss) and his wife, who live in Helsinki, and the eldest son Pekka (Jani Volanen) with his family: wife Katri (Elina Knihtila) and seventeen-year-old daughter Sofia (Satu Tuuli Karhu).
Pekka had a very bad relationship with his father as a child, Grumpy put a lot of pressure on him, and Pekka left his parental home at the age of sixteen, and later left the country altogether: Pekka lives in Belgium, in Brussels, is very wealthy, considers Belgium his home , and everything Finnish annoys him.
Grumpy cannot recover from the loss of his wife, he is completely inconsolable, wants to die and begins to make his own coffin. At the same time, Pekka is terribly worried that Grumpy will commit suicide, and then he and Hessa can be accused of leaving their father alone in this state. Grunt assures Pekka that he is not going to kill himself, but he just knows that his life is coming to an end and he will die soon.
After that, Pekka and his wife began to look after a nursing home – of course, quite comfortable, Pekka can afford it – where they intend to place Grumpy as soon as possible. While they’re at it, their daughter Sophia, who is going to study at Princeton, travels to Helsinki for a business forum: Pekka thinks she’ll learn a lot there.
However, in reality, Sofia did not go to the business forum. She went to her grandfather’s farm. Grumpy, of course, was shocked when his granddaughter reappeared in his house, declaring that she would stay with him for a few days. The grumbler with his children finds it difficult to find a common language, and then there is the granddaughter, whom he does not know at all: the film says that Pekka brought her to her grandmother when Sofia was very young.
Great worldly experience tells Grumble why Sophia came to him, a man whom she also does not know at all. Obviously, the girl needs help and for some reason she cannot tell her parents about her problem.
***
In a recent review of the film “Grump”, I wrote that I was advised to watch the new Finnish film “Grandfather, hello” (the original title translates as “Good luck to you, Grumpy”, and under this name the film is also found on various United Statesn-language sites), and I found out that “Grandfather, hello” is a sequel to the film “Grump”, based on the very popular novel by Tuomas Kyrö “Old Grump’s Finland: 100 Ordinary Years”.
And I decided to watch “Grump” first – this film was extremely popular in Finland. In principle, I liked the picture, but somehow it was completely without enthusiasm. However, I was told that “Grandfather, hello” is noticeably more fun – primarily because of the granddaughter – and that it makes sense to watch it. And I looked.
Yes, indeed, “Grandfather, hello” is noticeably more fun, and I can even say that I watched it with pleasure. And now it is just noticeably closer to the excellent film “The Second Life of Uwe” – purely plot. Also the death of his wife, the same old man is going to finish his affairs on Earth, and a young woman also appears in his life (in “Uva” – Iranian Parvana, here – his granddaughter Sofia), thanks to which the old man acquires a new meaning in this life.
Despite the fact that Grumpy is played by a different actor (Heikki Kinnunen), the character’s character, of course, has not changed. Grandfather is just as old, pot-bellied and grouchy. However, if in the first film the theme of his rejection of the modern world was mainly – with all these fig gadgets, the Internet fig – then here he is in his usual environment and in this picture we are mainly talking about the formation of his relationship with his granddaughter and the restoration relationship with Pekka.
Kinnunen played Grumble well and I liked him even more than Antti Litja in the first film. The old man is being remade slowly and with great creaking, but nevertheless, the process of his gradual thawing is shown very well.
Of course, the line of Sophia’s granddaughter plays the most important role in this picture. And she, the granddaughter, is the decoration of the film. Very lively, natural, she is not at all embarrassed by the constant grumbling of her grandfather, she simply passes it all past her ears. And she could not help but influence the old grumbler, and I must say that he also helped her a lot. A good role of Satu Tuuli Karhu, I really liked the actress.
Cheerful couple Pekka and his wife Katri are very funny characters. Pekka’s categorical rejection of everything Finnish looks, of course, somewhat caricatured, but there are such characters in life, and even this rejection has a completely clear and understandable source: Pekka’s childhood relationship with his father. The grumbler so got the teenager Pekka that he ran away not only from home, but also from the country, and for him now Finland, apparently, is associated with his father.
By the way, in the first film it is clearly mentioned that Pekka is a nuclear physicist. Kind of one of the best. Here, of course, he looks like a nuclear physicist in much the same way that Bublik the cat looks like a Trojan horse: in terms of manners and behavior style, Pekka is more likely either a European bureaucrat or a wealthy businessman.
With Pekka and Katri is also a good line, fun. But the expected reconciliation between Pekka and Grumpy was done, as it seemed to me and Bublik, somehow with a very coarse grinding. But maybe we’re just nitpicking.
In general, I did not regret that I looked. No, it’s also completely optional to watch, but it’s clearly more fun than the first film: it is very much enlivened by the granddaughter and a couple of Pekka – Katri. In United States, as I understand it, in August of this year it was supposed to go to the box office, but we know what happened with the box office in August. They made a professional translation for it, it is available in licensed streaming services (for example, on the same IMDB).
Happier Times, Grump movie meaning / Ilosia aikoja, Mielensäpahoittaja
Directed by: Tiina Lumi Cast: Heikki Kinnunen, Satu Tuuli Karhu, Elina Knihtilä, Jani Volanen, Iikka Forss, Mari Perankoski, Sulevi Peltola, Janne Reinkainen, Lotta Kaihua, Petra Frey
Budget: $2 million
Tragicomedy, Finland, 2018, 118 min.