In the Shadow of the High-Rise: The Lahio in Contemporary Finnish Cinema

摘要

This payer examines how the constructions of cinematic space in contemporary Finnish films reimagine the architectural reality of high-rise suburbs in east Helsinki and neighbouring Vantaa, and how these cinematic portrayals engage with urban change. This is done by examining three films set in the suburbs of Greater Helsinki, Antti Jokinen's Pahan Kukat (2016), Aleksi Tuomivaara's Korso (2014) and Aku Louhimies's Vuosaari (2022). The films draw multilayered portraits of life in the high-rises and negotiate the intersection of physical environment and lived experience within it. The films are the newest cinematic voices in the ongoing process of reinterpreting and reimagining the suburban high-rise milieu. The imagined suburbs in films draw out a parallel world that can be used to better understand the role of the lahio at the intersection of architecture, the welfare state and everyday life.