Seasons Of The Year (1969 - 2020)

Now for something really obscure: in my country of Estonia, we have our own little film franchise, which I've collectively dubbed "Seasons of the Year" based on the films' titles. It's not a particularly exciting series in the conventional sense - based on the novels by author Oskar Luts, these films depict the everyday lives of a few Estonian schoolchildren and later adults in tragicomical situations that common villagers could easily relate to.

The original 1969 Spring and the book it's based on are some of the most iconic of Estonian stories. As said above, there's not really a dominant narrative. Spring is essentially a series of interconnected skits with recurring themes based on the personalities of the characters.

As a film, I can't say it's aged particularly well - practically the entire audio is dubbed and since we are dealing with children here, the acting is so-so. The fragmented style of the book is also carried over a bit too directly, meaning the film skips months at a time without any kind of transition. However, I was impressed with the inventive cinematography and the second half of the film, which is more comical and less focused on the cringeworthy prepubescent romance, is genuinely still fun. The crowd fight scenes over the riverbank certainly never get old.

But of course it's the characters that are at the heart of Spring. As a kid, I was somewhat invested in the protagonist, Arno Tali(portrayed by Arno Liiver). A deeply introspective, dreamy kid whom we liked as kids, but grow out of enjoying as adults because we'd much rather follow his antagonist, the endlessly rambunctious troublemaker Joosep Toots(Arne Laanemets), forever the plague of the red-faced pastor, who has the unenviable task of managing and disciplining an entire school of rowdy children.

Arno's heartfelt platitudes are easy to relate to as a growing child, but since the cynicism has long set in me, I did find myself wanting to skip his endless worrying over losing his wily girlfriend Teele(Riina Hein) to other boys. Indeed, Spring is at its most endearing during the purely comical sequences, most memorably fussy, whiny Kiir's(Margus Lepa) brother's christening, where he and Toots steal a winebottle and get drunk. Loads of laughs there.

Overall, it's still a classic, but mainly for youngsters to enjoy and think about.

Now here's a film for my tastes, and hardly surprising it is too, seeing as how Summer deals with young adults such as myself, and their first steps towards the rest of their lives. I find it very fitting that my favourite film in the series would shift as I age along with the characters.

Joosep Toots (Aare Laanemets reprising his iconic role) returns to his village of Paunvere, ready to apply Russian modernization onto his own farm whilst fighting with the perpetually hapless Kiir (Margus Lepa again) to win over the heart of the moody Teele (Riina Hein once more).

Unlike the previous film, which was limited to children's antics in the schoolhouse, Summer expands its setting to the entirety of the fictional Paunvere village, allowing for more character development and situational comedy as we contrast the lives of the agricultural Toots and the fussy tailor Kiir and how ill-fitting they are in each other's homes.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film and novel is how it essentially discards Spring's protagonist, Arno, and transfers some of his characterisation(namely his friendship with the town drunk Lible and his romance with Teele) over to former antagonist Toots, presumably as a matter of convenience so the author could continue to use the locale and characters familiar to the readers whilst acknowledging that Arno never really fit in. He does appear, played by Liiver still, but only in a short, melancholy scene.

Summer is great, entertaining viewing for 20-year olds, with plenty of hijinks brought out by the now more mature actors.

And so we reach Autumn. Unfortunately, this is where the loyalty to the source material becomes somewhat problematic, as even that was somewhat perfunctory. One could argue that Autumn is about tying up loose ends and fondly reminiscing on the past, but it feels less like the commentary on midlife crisis that it should've been and more like, well, fan service.

Summer often harkened back to Spring, but it was hardly unoriginal. In fact, it was practically bursting with new ideas of what to do with the characters and where their lives have taken them since childhood. In direct contrast, Autumn places them exactly where we'd expect them to be. And then... well, keeps them there.

Just about the only notable change that it brings to the table is putting the skittish tailor Kiir(Margus Lepa still) in the forefront as the new protagonist and depicting his tumultous relationship with two competitor sisters(played by Liina Tennosaar and Anne Reemann), who quickly become his two love interests. It's an amusing idea and it's funny to see his family's reactions to Kiir's antics, but it takes up only about 20 minutes of the film, after which he resumes his attempts to satisfy his own ego by purchasing a farm, a subplot that was already well and truly mined in Summer.

Apart from that, all that Autumn can really bring to the table is an oppurtunity to see beloved characters together once again, doing their shtick and repeating the best lines from the previous films. And then it becomes really godawful towards the end when a fictionalised version of the author himself steps in. Yes, Oskar Luts, the writer of the book series, is actually a character in this film(played by Väino Laes), supposedly another schoolmate who's taken to writing about his own childhood experiences... even though he was never there in the previous films(and thank God for that). And he drags them all the way back to the original school, where everyone sits and grins at the camera in their original seats. It's as terrible as it sounds.

Still, if you want to spot Arno Liiver's even-briefer-than-the-last-film cameo, there's your chance.

Did this one even happen?

Winter is inspired by the controversially post-mortem Oskar Luts novel, which is known to be mostly written by fans of his work. It is not directed by Arvo Kruusement, who brought us the previous three.

And most notably, it does not include the franchise's stars Arno Liiver (demoted from blink-it-and-you-miss cameo to a pile of ash due to the actor's alcoholic antics) or the beloved Aare Laanemets, who has sadly passed away.

Thus, it is hardly surprising that the film barely feels like it has anything to do with Luts and the world he built. However, all of that could be forgiven if the film was made with a purpose beyond nostalgia and a completionist desire to have all seasons of the year put to film.

Unfortunately, Winter is by far the most fragmented and aimless of the lot, with the storyline revolving around nothing more than the love affairs between the main characters' children, and simply catching up on what the aged cast(mainly Teele and Kiir, and an awkward cameo from Imelik, who for some reason gets pointedly ignored in every scene he's in) are up to these days. Now, lovey-dovey melodrama is nothing new to the series, being that it has always been a slice of life comedy, but where the previous films at least gave the protagonists some initiative and a goal to strive towards, this one just sort of... meanders. Until it suddenly comes to an end.

The cast is strong, and their personalities are defined fairly early on, but the film isn't giving them much to do. Autumn already made the error of relying too heavily on nostalgia, but at least the old gags were still executed well enough and we had far more familiar faces around. Here, when we see Toots's son get drunk with Kiir's son and have Arno's son Arnold wander around the old school premises, it's kind of sad. The creators are clearly passionate about Luts's world, but aside from a few quirks that come with the passing of the times(such as the Nazi presence), they have nothing to add, because they are not Luts. Even Luts never really had much to add after a certain point.

So, I guess the message is that life's a circle. Like father, like son. But you know, this film does capture the Estonian spirit quite nicely. Because if there's anything that sums up a true Estonian, it's a big fat shrug.