Female Film Critics 24/375
If you were a big fan of the Moomins but had no idea who created them, Tove will fill in all the blanks. Tove Jansson was an artist and a writer in her public life but also in her private adult life, she started with a man, then with a woman, so the feature film is perfect for Pride month.
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It’s no surprise by now to discover that the private lives of the authors and artists behind some of the world’s most beloved children’s books were anything but calm (or G-rated). But it’s always fascinating to get a glimpse into the events, people, and places that shaped them and led to their iconic creations, and Zaida Bergroth’s Tove — which stars the excellent Alma Pöysti as Finnish Moomin mastermind Tove Jansson — is no exception.
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Biopics are a dime a dozen these days with many often featuring the usual cliched rise- and-fall scenario. But with Tove, director Zaida Bergoth is lucky enough to focus on a uniquely alluring Finnish sketcher, painter and author best known for her Moomins, hippo-like creatures with puffy snouts that were featured in comic-strips and books. From the start, she was able to pick herself up and dust herself whenever the chips were down. That includes the opening scenes as she and her family head back to a rubble-filled Helsinki at the end of World War II.
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While not a particularly radical biopic in terms of style and structure, filmmaker Zaida Bergroth’s Tove is a loving portrait of Tove Jansson, an international cultural icon who learns the truth about art, authenticity and love during the period when her beloved Moomins would shift beyond her inner life and become even today deeply loved pop cultural icons.
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