Ripa roustuu

Ripa the bohemian is a confused young man in his prime. He has a background as a filmmaker and likes to call himself a director. The energetic Ripa prefers to devote his time to music videos, women and beer. Despite his intentions he lacks patience and all of his ideas remain unrealized since they never last for long. Ripa's brain is actually starting to resemble a fast-paced MTV video - the boundaries between fantasy and reality are eventually blurred.

COMMENTARY
An unmistakable Aki Kaurismaki flick. True, Kaurismaki is only the producer, but his genius permeates every sour breath in Ripa Hits the Skids. Ripa on the one hand is a real swine (and as a real swine he is pitiful enough to admit to it) and on the other hand he is a young man with Finnish ''sisu'', and visions of continuing his career as a film director. However, with a copious liking for beer, women and 50's cars this will prove to be difficult. Like his brain, Ripa's scripts focus sex and violence and are constantly rejected.
Ripa is in deep shit. His beautiful bombshell of an ex-darling has grown tired of him, and cheekily enough she has taken the furniture of the flat as a pawn until his 13 000 debt has been paid for, Now Ripa's infernal ramble on the hunt for cash down into the netherworld of Helsinki begins. The director Christian Lindblad's debut feature is a dark
''social realistic'' journey shot in shimmering black-and-white images.
Ripa's bank account dries up, his car is towed away due to unpaid parking tickets and finally Ripa males a desperate appearance in a porno flick in order to sort out his finances. But when Ripa, down on all fours, sees an actor three times his size who is going to play opposite him sticking his fingers in a jar of motor oil in order to make that little thing slide easier - Ripa has had enough. But still, Ripa's infernal wandering is far from over.
In the middle of the crude jargon this is su a mildly romantic and even fairly sentimental movie. The humour is celiainly there: in the end Ripa gets down on his knees in front of his father, a father who greets him:
''Hello little good-for-nothing''. The old man himself seriously believes that he is the mega King Kong of the financial universe and rules the world, he has nothing but contempt for his son. Not for nothing women seem like horny bitches in the eyes of Ripa, poor thing, when all he really dreams of is a warm, plump Marilyn Monroe or a cool, distanced Marlene Dietrich. Napoleon himself flickers past Ripa's half-closed eyes as a role model before the exhausted Ripa is ready to tackle this night's conquests. ':'
Susanna Edwards