I had not read anything about the plot when I walked into the theatre but just after a few minutes I knew excatly where it was going. I love romcoms so I wasn't too bothered by it and stayed for the story. A girl helping a refugee get a wife so he can stay in Finland legally, that already sounds pretty interesting. In the movie the northern side of Finland is portrayed more accurately and not as a magical place like in most ads. The movie does have a minor racism subplot as well as something about the girl's grandmother but those were forgetable. I love the main character and how her actress portrayed her, the acting in general is nothing special but never took me out of the movie. The jokes were okay or just unfunny and the movie just..ended? It felt a bit sudden.

Really enjoyable film. Rovaniemi, the small Arctic city is one of the stars of the show. The 2 main characters are a self destructive, gobby Finnish girl who is initially hard to warm to and a troubled refugee and his daughter. Secondary characters are a lovely Finnish social worker and her black, Finnish husband. His ethnicity provides a comedy sub plot which is funny, awkward and very Finnish. He provides most of the laughs and I've seen him in Heavy Trip where he displays similar excellent, if brutal, comic timing. Get through the unlikeable first 20 minutes and get to the point where you will be really rooting for Aurora, who starts out as an unlikeable human disaster zone. Quite a lot of English but mostly in Finnish language.

It's a very well produced piece though it rather lacks realism. Whatever misfortunes Aurora brings on herself, or which befall her, there always seems to be a safety net so there's no lasting damage. It's perhaps more fairytale than comedy. I thought that the last few minutes took the fairytale too far and spoilt it for me so I knocked off a star for that. Some parts were more silly than funny. And some of the hardship was rather contrived. But, great acting and some good ideas. A curate's egg!