A Romance for the New Age: Mikko Makela’s A Moment in the Reeds (2017). Race, Sex and Politics

Abstract

In the woodiness of rural Finland, to see another human being might already be quite a feat; to stumble upon a gay architect from Syria – forced by circumstances to earn a living in a capacity far below his talents, making out with a Finnish student just arrived from Paris – surely beats that by a tenfold at least. And yet, it is around this trope that the Finland-born, London-based director Mikko Makela builds his first feature film. Makela’s 2017 debut touches upon questions of an individual’s identity and sexuality at a time when events like the 2015 immigrant crisis or the recent economic struggle of old Western democracies come intimately close and spawn a variety of hitherto largely ignored conflicts and encounters. By linking global histories with local, small-scale dramas, Makela offers a story which moves and angers, shames and excites, unsettles and promises hope.