On Ihanaa olla ilkeä - It's wonderful be mean /

On Ihanaa olla ilkeä has a title that's hard to read but a premise that's simply hilarious. The main character, Lotta, is kind of like an evil Amelie. Instead of matchmaking, she really likes to ruin somebody's day.

This is a movie with no dialogue, and I like how it sets up its main character in visual terms. We see two worms wiggling around on a rock, and then one of Lotta's shoes enters the frame to squish them. She gets a kick out of tying an old couple's shoelaces together, but the funniest part comes later when a poor sap has the misfortune of bumping into her. The fade-out at 0:57 has to be one of the funniest things I've seen all year.

Of course, a story about a big old meanie would be no fun if she didn't get her just desserts, and Lotta's comeuppance is singularly delightful. She messes with the sugar dispenser in a quaint little shop, and is disappointed when the guy who uses it is unfazed. She follows him to the park to trip him up but his shoes have no laces. This ends in a hysterical spoof of the scene in Titanic when Jack and Rose are spinning each other and the camera cuts to a subjective POV. I don't know how they did it - there must be some invisible wirework going on - but the filmmakers sure make it look like Lotta is flying through the air before she ends up in a tree. Serves her right.