The Magic Life of V (2019) - full transcript

What kind of a character is your V?

V is a junior.

She's really talkative

and wants to be friends
with everyone right from the start.

She makes quick moves.

Her emotions change fast.

She might get angry quickly,
but she'll calm down quickly.

She doesn't take things personally.

She's happy all the time.

- Happy all the time?
- Yeah.

- Not bad.
- Kind of happy all the time.



V is also good in school.

She often helps others
because she can.

Not because she's a know-it-all,

but because she's helpful.

She's also very loyal
to her loved ones.

And...

She's happy all the time.

I'm sorry for breaking character.

Everything's okay.

There are so many things...

Like...

It's hard to understand
who I am

when things
hit too close to home.

I haven't experienced anything
like this in a long time,



so my emotions are very intense.

That's normal.

Your emotions will flow into
your character and vice versa.

Lumos!
(a light-creation spell)

Lumos!

Lumos...

Mom, we could go for a walk.

What nice memories
from your childhood do you have?

Tell me the funniest or nicest one.

The most memorable
and positive one.

I remember this one weekend

when we were kids.

I think you weren't at home.

It was Ville, me and Dad.

Dad had a couple of drinks.

He was in the bathroom, shaving.

He nicked his throat.

He came to Ville and me,
holding his throat

and making a gurgling sound,
pretending to be dying.

He lay on the floor,
making the gurgling sound.

Right.

He would play these
strange head games.

Yeah, I remember.
His sense of humor was strange.

We should put this
on the other side.

- Why?
- To balance the sound.

Stop it. And come here.

So Ville is my brother.
He's two years older than me.

When he was born,
he was normal,

but when he was one,
he had such a high fever

that he suffered
permanent brain damage.

What was your relationship
like in your childhood?

It was pretty good at first.

Because we both were somehow...

Even though he was
two years older than me,

you couldn't tell
for a long time.

For a long time,
we were on an equal footing.

We'd play together a lot.

It was easy to use Ville
as a prop in my games.

I had a lot of ideas.

- He agreed to it?
- Yes, he always said yes.

He would do what I told him.

But at some point

when I was a preteen

and teen,

the difference became noticeable,
and Ville fell behind.

Then what happened

was that the kids

in the neighboring areas

started bullying me
because my brother was disabled.

They'd say I was also retarded.

It was hard.
Ville and I argued a lot.

I remember vividly

walking with a friend

and Ville following us.

I told him repeatedly
to leave us alone and go home.

I said, "Let me be with my friend."
He didn't get it.

I remember picking up a stick
and throwing it at him.

It hit him in the face,
and he got a nosebleed.

I did terrible things.
I was so angry at him,

but he just didn't understand.

Those feelings of anger
that I felt towards him

were very intense.

- Do you want tea?
- Yeah.

- What tea would you like?
- I don't care.

Do you want the strawberry
and vanilla?

Yeah.

I'll put it here.

When you were there,
did Dad ask about me?

I don't know.

I don't know.
He asked about something,

but I don't know
everything he asked.

He went to work
the two weeks you were there?

Yeah.

- On New Year's you drank?
- Yeah.

We had a day off.

- What did you do?
- Nothing.

You just drank.

We didn't drink a lot.
Just a little.

Did you go anywhere?

We were supposed
to go see the fireworks,

but we couldn't.

- Because you were so drunk?
- Yeah.

But that's okay.

- He let you drink?
- Yeah. A little.

- Yeah.
- How much?

A little.

Did you know I changed my last name?

- No.
- You didn't?

- No.
- Oh.

- When?
- Last spring.

Why?

I didn't want to have
Dad's last name anymore.

Oh.

I took Mom's grandma's...

I mean, Mom's Mom's last name.

- Wow. Yeah.
- Yeah. Yeah.

It felt stupid keeping his name,

since I haven't seen him
in more than 10 years.

How much did it cost?

- Changing the name?
- Yeah.

A couple of hundred euros.

- Oh.
- Yeah.

Hand.

Oh!

Ville, you've never tried this
before?

No.

Okay.
The rules of the game are simple.

The idea of the game

is to hit our opponent
without him or her hitting us.

I'll try to hit Peltsi
while defending myself.

If I hit him in the chest or head,
the game is over for him.

He'll turn the sword upside down.

If I hit Peltsi in the arm,

he'll have to switch hands
and put the hand behind his back.

If I hit the other hand,
the game is over for him.

Take a good basic stance.
Put your right foot in front.

A wide stance like that is good.
Hold the sword in front of you

and defend yourself.

If I hit you like this,
you'll defend yourself.

- Good. Shall we try?
- Yeah.

The match begins
when we put our swords together.

We take a step back.

We'll try to hit each other.
Good.

Good.

- I hit you in the arm.
- Put your hand behind your back.

- Put the sword in the other hand.
- That's it.

Put the other foot in front.

- That was good.
- That was the first match.

- Another match?
- Sure.

- What do you think?
- This is cool.

Good job, Ville.
Oh, you got hit in both arms.

Let's do it.

You ran into me and died.

Is Ville okay?

Do you have scary memories
from your childhood

of your dad behaving out
of control or in a way

that made it impossible
for you to trust him?

Yeah. Yeah.

The whole childhood was, like...

...colored by that feeling.

When he drank,

anything would provoke him.

Anything. Even little things.

And...

Did you experience
physical violence at home yourself?

Yeah, if I intervened, then...

Was your brother the target
sometimes?

- Yeah.
- So you all were.

Yeah, my brother would always

get the classic...

belt...

- He got beaten with a belt?
- Yes.

It's been quite scary for you.
Unsafe.

Yeah. I do understand...

I do...

Somehow I feel
that it's even been...

I mean, our family
isn't the only family

where something like that
happened.

I mean, it was common,

especially in the old days.

I'm sure that children...

Children get beaten,
and that's that.

Dad might get drunk,

and his wife might get hurt
a little when he drinks.

Somehow I'm able to look at it

from a distance now

and think, "That's what it was."
But back then it was...

First it was being
actively afraid of dying.

Then actively wishing to die.

- How come you're eating so little?
- The food looks good. What is this?

Chicken with spinach,
cream and chives.

- Right. Aren't you eating?
- I'll have a little.

I already had some.

You haven't eaten that much.
The rest is for you.

- Do you have plans for tomorrow?
- No.

- Sleep, sleep, sleep.
- Okay.

It's my day off.

- Saturday?
- Saturday is always my day off.

That's right.

If you could have
any job you want...

Real estate maintenance.

- A janitor?
- That's nice work.

You're right.

You're right.

What did you think of the week

you spent at the assisted
living facility in Jämsä?

I don't know.

- Was it nice there?
- I don't know.

I'm tired of this.

- So how did it happen?
- How we finally separated?

It was the evening of Father's Day.

- The evening of Father's Day?
- Yes.

He...

He was violent towards Ville
in front of me,

so I...

I kicked him out
and didn't let him back in.

He hit Ville. He had never
done that in front of me.

Yeah.

He had done it in front of me.

When he hit my child,
I thought that's it.

That was the last straw.
You just don't do that.

I wasn't aware of the things he did

while I wasn't at home.

Nobody told me anything.

I don't think
anyone talked about it.

Silence, please!
Let's get this over with.

Okay, what's the most
important thing about the game?

I want you to be good mates.

I know this sounds banal,

but it's important
that everybody has fun.

Everybody knows
how the game is played...

Yes, okay!

The terrain is the
military buildings.

Don't go too far
from the premises.

We've talked to the hunters,

but it doesn't mean there aren't
poachers outside the fence.

So, can we buy
some bullets from you?

The bullets are fifty.

But I can give you a special quest.

Go ahead.

I'm looking for a guy who stole
a special artifact from me.

And I'll pay you well.

We need a scientist
to check this mutant!

Ask on the radio for help!

The path... There are buildings
where we might find anomalies.

Let's hope
we don't run into mutants.

THEY ARE HERE

GO OUT

THERE IS NO WAY OUT

How are you? I tried to call Ville.
He tried to call me.

Yesterday.

Oh.

Has he been by himself?

That's probably why he called.

Has Ville seen Dad?

There.

I was just wondering.

Yeah.

No, I was just wondering if it has
something to do with that.

Yeah.

- How are you doing at school?
- Okay.

Are you doing better
now that you're on medication?

Yes.

I've done
real estate maintenance work.

- You haven't had panic attacks?
- No.

- How was your Friday?
- It was nice.

- What?
- It was nice.

- How was yours?
- What did you do?

Not much.

- What?
- Nothing.

- You drank?
- No. I was just joking.

- How much did you drink?
- What are you talking about?

- How much?
- I didn't drink anything.

I behaved.

- Yes, but you drank.
- So what?

- You called an ambulance.
- No, I didn't.

- Yes, you did.
- No, I didn't.

- Who called it then?
- A friend.

- A friend?
- Yeah.

- May I ask you something?
- What is it?

- May I?
- Yes.

I noticed you have cuts
on your arms.

- So what?
- When did you make them?

It was a while ago.

- Why?
- I don't know.

I don't do that anymore.
These are old cuts.

Did you make them
when you were drinking?

No.

Just because?

- Or when you were drunk?
- I wasn't drunk.

- Just because?
- Because of bullying.

Because of bullying? Oh.

They used to bully me at school,
but they don't anymore.

Did you ever drink
because you were bullied?

No.

- No?
- No.

So you drink just because?

Have you had panic attacks
because of the bullying?

No.

- Just because?
- Behave!

- You don't want to talk?
- No.

I'm tired.

- Tired?
- Yeah.

- Let's go in.
- You go in first.

Archery is also part of this sport.

We use soft arrowheads.
They don't hurt.

They're also too big
to go in your eye.

I aim at him
and then release the arrow.

- You want to try?
- Yes.

That's it.

Tilt the bow to the side.
Keep your arm straight.

Pull back as much as you can.
Aim at the torso

and release the bow.

- That's the way.
- Excellent shots.

You're already a pro.

Good job.

One more.

- One more?
- Take the bow.

- Grab the handle lower.
- Lower.

Put it there. That's good.

I'll put the arrow a bit lower.

Take your finger out of the way.

That might be a bit too high.
There.

Excellent.

- Good job, Ville.
- Great job.

Here's a video
of one of our bigger events.

It's the one I told you about.

There are 600 people
on the field.

Different teams have
different color uniforms.

That's Santtu. He's on our team.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

You can still sign up
for this year's event

if you're interested.

- Would you like to go?
- I don't know.

- Does it cost something?
- About thirty euros.

Not bad.

Would you take a bow
if you participated?

Yeah.

You'd shoot at people
from a distance.

Yeah.

- That's a lot of fun.
- You were good.

You would've hit me in the head
if I didn't have the shield.

You'd make a really good
Robin Hood.

True.

- So, why don't you come.
- How would I get there?

- Someone will give you a ride.
- Oh yeah.

I'm sure we could work it out.

Sure, I'll come.

Come to me fast.

Go.

Let go.

- I'm going to see Dad tomorrow.
- Oh.

I was supposed to see him too.

- You want to?
- Yes, I do.

- What are you going to say to him?
- I don't know.

- Don't say anything.
- What?

- Don't say anything.
- Don't say anything?

- I should go there and say nothing?
- Just go and have a beer with him.

I'm not even sure he's home.

I haven't seen him in 15 years.

When you think
about seeing your dad,

do you feel
you need something

before you can see him?
- Yes, definitely.

I'm still very wary.

I still find it hard to talk
about things.

I find it...

With him?

With everybody.

But it's even harder
to talk to him.

What also scares me

about meeting him is that...

...I've had these really intense

aggressive phases.

It's been really hard to...

Do you have elements
from your characters

that you can use
as parts of yourself?

Even though you have
your role with you,

you'll have to see your dad
as a daughter and as yourself.

Are you going to take
characters with you

that will bring you wisdom,
strength and patience

for meeting your dad,
who hasn't known how to be one?

And he probably still doesn't know
how to be one.

I should have a character

that I'd larp in several LARPs

so that something really big

would stay with me.

Because seeing Dad
would be such a big thing.

The element would have to be
really well integrated in me

if I wanted to be able to use it.

I would have to create
the character.

I've been thinking
about a lot of things.

All kinds of things
over the past 15 years.

So have I.

I'm a lousy father.

Or no father at all.

- Is that how you feel?
- Yes.

I have to admit that our childhood
could've been better.

And everything.

True. But it is what it is,

and there's nothing
we can do about it.

Yeah.

I've been thinking...

- Is it all black?
- No, it's okay.

- Have you been healthy?
- Yeah.

- Fit as a fiddle?
- Yeah, more or less.

Yeah. I think I'm doing better
than Ville.

Yeah.

Ville has all kinds of problems.

He drinks quite a lot.

He told me that you drank together
when he was here.

- Here?
- Yeah.

- It was mostly him who drank.
- Okay.

He didn't drink that much.

It might be better
if he didn't drink at all.

Is there anything
you'd like to say to me?

Something you've thought
about saying.

Why do you think you drink?

- Me?
- Yeah.

Because life is boring.

Why do alcoholics drink?

When we were little, did you drink
because your life was boring?

Or was it because...

I've been trying to understand it.

It would be important for me

to see you as a human being,

and not as a father
who's an alcoholic.

I've been trying to understand.

- Ordinary everyday life...
- It's not enough for you?

At least back then
I felt it wasn't enough.

Yeah.

Lumos!

What?

It's gonna break.

- Spin it.
- No way.

Spin it!