re:mote voices

Title: Asphalto
Cast: Irina Björklund, Peter Franzén, Ilari Nummi
Director: Ilppo Pohjola

asphalto is a short film, about 40 minutes, from finland, which is shot in both english and finnish mixed together. described as being a metaphor for the relationship between men and women it is safe to say that asphalto is somewhat abstract. with an intro and epilogue asphalto is told in thirteen parts - each of those parts made up by scenes of a demolition derby, a petrol station and a model dressed in a near fetishistic representation of that petrol station. from what i can gather part of the core idea is that there is a road which stretches from one end of finland to the other, with 13 intervals of 89 miles, each represented by a girl and a petrol station.

meanwhile a man and woman are in a car, but instead of travelling that road they are stuck in a warehouse, each movement bringing them into collision with another car. the soundtrack is to the fore, grinding metalic sounds, burgeoning with noise potential, which is increasingly realised with progression. mixed into that are the growls and squeals of cars and their tires. with each new chapter we have the repetition of the phrase "asphalt up your ass" - which is shouted out by the girl in the car, and quickly becomes tiresome. there is some expansion on that statement, but that seems to be a little down played compared to the repetition of the clear catchphrase.

ballardian references are obvious, with ideas of cars and sexuality, perhaps most explicit with the final scrapyard scene, where the slack bodies of the petrol station girls lie, discarded and apparently broken, scattered amongst tires like the shells of the demolished vehicles. this is a particularly striking scene, as is the introduction and epilogue of the man that is in the car, shirtless and panicked he runs down an abandoned road - breathless as he works his way through the weeds that rise through the cracked asphalt.