Concrete Night

Concrete Night is a dream-like odyssey through beautiful Helsinki over the course of one night. The protagonist of the film is a 14-year-old boy named Simo who is still searching for a sense of self and the ability to protect himself from his surroundings. He lacks his own identity. Simo and his big brother Ilkka are the sons of a helpless and unpredictable single mother. Their chaotic home is located deep in the heart of a concrete jungle in Helsinki. Ilkka has one day of freedom left before starting his prison sentence. The mother persuades Simo to spend the last night with his brother. During the course of the day and night spent roaming around Helsinki, the brothers witness incidents they would rather not see. Vulnerable Simo is not equipped to justify what he sees or delude himself-seeing things accurately as they are. To him, the unfiltered world seems unbearable. Finally a casual encounter with a photographer, whose intentions Simo misreads, launches him into blind fear. In the panic-stricken violence that ensues, Simo finds his missing identity, his true face. Director Pirjo Honkasalo wrote the film script based on the merciless novel Concrete Night by Pirkko Saisio, which was published in 1981. The script has been adapted to modern times. The 30-year-old novel foreshadows life today.