Jari Nordström

The Punk Syndrome is a film about Finland’s most kick-ass punk rock band, Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. The band members, Pertti, Kari, Toni and Sami, are mentally handicapped and they play their music with a lot of attitude and pride. We follow these professional musicians on their journey from obscurity to popularity. We watch them fight, fall in love and experience strong emotions. We witness long days in the recording studio and on tour. They laugh, cry, drink and fight over who gets to sit in the front on the tour bus. Then it’s time to make up and go talk to people in the audience and tell them how great their band is.

The everyday, democratic pleasures of the sauna get their dues in this short film stripped of everything superfluous. There is a tangible warmth recorded on the 16 millimetre film used by director Jari Nordström and cinematographer Kalle Pajamaa, even before the water thrower reaches the sauna benches. As singer Tapio Rautavaara calls on the film’s soundtrack: “More water on the stones!”