8-Ball

Pike is released from prison and journeys out into the world in an attempt to make a fresh start. But the past – and not least its notorious acquaintances – are not so easy to shake off, and the single mother of a baby is fighting a courageous struggle to keep them at bay. She entrenches herself in the bleak suburban apartment she has been given by the authorities, and for a brief moment one can glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel. But Pike’s ex, the father of her child, and also her only great, passionate love, Lalli, tracks her down in no time, and their relationship resumes – with everything it implies in terms of sex, hard drugs, petty crime and violence. But their relationship also has a striking tenderness.

In a parallel story, we meet the ageing detective Elias, who does what he can to protect her in the best illegal, but dedicated way. Aku Lohimies’s classic Nordic gangster film lives through its close portrayal of the woman with the angelic face, who repeatedly makes the wrong choices – with her own life and that of her child at stake.

Finland 2013