Charming and brutal

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Beginning and the base of the story was interesting, and going on fine. Then when Laszlo (Frantzen) comes back to family, the story starts to change more to some gangster stuff... and also Laszlo's character is widely annoying and idiotic, and I didn't realize why he is speaking such a stupid way, and not sounding natural at all. Well... gangsters comes even more, little fighting, good against the evil. Kind of basic story. Not to much humor inside as I was expecting. Some ultra cheesy singing parts and music in this film made want to skip the end totally; just too much sentimental crap. I didn't even care anymore how it will end, what will happen. It's easy to imagine anyway. Of course movie was not full of bad stuff. Some acting and film shooting is very well made, and this movie actually had some nice idea. Only how it became after all wasn't a success.

Loved the whole thing. The story of a young man that gets hit in the head and starts his life anew, like a baby - learning to walk, to talk, to feel, and the last but not the least, to understand - is simple but appealing.And although the plot and settings are strictly fairy-tale and timeless (like, what the people are wearing, their caravans, some of the speeches, and the guy named Laszlo from head to toe) you still want to believe what is happening on the screen. Of course one can enjoy watching more once he knows the background of the Koppelo family's story and have an idea of what Lieksa, the movie's Neverland or Oz, whatever, really is like. Then it comes clear that the caravan is actually going nowhere. Another wasted dream.10 points to the team who made the movie.

Before i watched this film i read different reviews about this film and with some sites rating it around 5 out of 10 i was a bit put off it, but after i watched the music video from the film i decided to give it a go. But i am glad i have watched the film, the shots are beautiful and well made edit. The storyline is a bit confusing but as i read the story before i watched it i felt like i knew what was going on. The only main down side for me was that it was too short and it felt like they squashed the movie down to 1 hour and 30 minutes, they could easily of added more flow to the movie and made it near the 2 hours and 30 minutes. Overall i would recommend this movie to my friends to watch even though it is very hard to get your hands on a English copy.

When Lieksa! first premiered in Finland I almost went to the theater to watch it, but after hearing a lot of comments about how the movie had some nice camera angles and such, but that it was really weird and didn't have a plot, I didn't go. But when I heard the theme song "While your lips are still red" I started to want to see the film. Then after a little while I heard that the movie was wonderful from one person and I bought the film. I watched and loved it. The film was visually beautiful and had a simple meaning that many people don't seem to understand. The Koppelo family believe that their grandmother was the lover of the last tsar of Russia. They've settled to live in Pyhäselkä, but in the beginning of the movie they are deported and they have to find a new place to live in. They leave towards Lieksa, the town of dreams. In the mean time a drunken man is driving and his car crashes with the Koppelos' van. The drunken man loses his memory and the Koppelo family take him with them. They name the man Kasper. Kasper falls in love with Lara, the daughter of the leader of the group. Kasper doesn't say anything during the movie, until in the last few minutes. The Koppelo family encounter a huge problem, Lazslo, a member of the group that left them years ago returns and wants Lara to be his bride. Lara fells in love with him, because her relationship with Kasper isn't going anywhere. Lazslo later on turns out to be a traitor once again and wants to destroy the whole group. The Koppelo family does get rid of Lazslo and his helpers in the end. The Koppelos head out to Lieksa before the winter. When they arrive at Lieksa, two of their group visit Lieksa while the others wait outside the town. After they return, they announce that Lieksa is too great for them. There was more action in one day at Lieksa than in their whole lives before. (Lieksa is actually one of the smallest and most insignificant towns in Finland)So the point in my opinion is that the thing that you try so very much to get, might not be that great after all. There were some faults, like when men dressed as women and you were supposed to laugh and for some the movie might be too unclear to follow. But on the whole, Lieksa! left me a great fairy tale-like feeling and I really enjoyed watching it. Markku Pölönen did a great job in my opinion and would deserve a lot more credit for the film than he did. I recommend Lieksa! to anyone who enjoys realism and fairy tales mixed in a love story9/10 (Sorry if I made spelling mistakes, I'm Finnish)