Tom of Finland

Director Dome Karukoski brings an oddly tasteful approach... But once Laaksonen achieves success and finds domestic happiness with a ballet dancer, the filmmakers don't have much to say about their subject.

In a subtle but wily performance, Strang never loses sight of his character's innate sense of resistance.

In the end, the overarching theme of "Tom of Finland" is the power of art, even - or maybe especially - so-called deviant art.

"Tom of Finland" entertainingly recounts an intriguing and vital chapter of 20th-century gay history with style and deference.

We all think about which films we should see from the current crop. Tom of Finland is perhaps an unusual choice but it's one I'm pleased to have seen.

Tom of Finland is a good, strong movie, but never threatens to be great. One salivates at the adventurous directions the film could have explored.

The ghost of war and trauma became muses cheering on his satirical fetish art, which transformed threatening tormentors into a beckoning aesthetic ideal with plenty of biker beefcakes and overly uniformed men of authority.

The film is unable to find its stride by playing it safe for 90% of its time on screen, with the remaining 10% going off on a wild tangent that looks like an advert for Piz Buin.

It's a good film, occasionally a very good film, but it never really soars like this story should soar.

Finnish actor Pekka Strang, as Tom, gives a quietly moving performance.