Tom of Finland

Tom of Finland follows Touko Laaksonen, a Finnish officer who returns to Helsinki after serving in the Second World War. Peace brings no relief: homosexual men face surveillance and prosecution, and those around him are pushed toward marriage and family life. Unable to live openly, Touko keeps his relationship with the dancer Veli hidden, even from his sister Kaija, and turns to drawing as an outlet. His homoerotic images of muscular men, eventually signed Tom of Finland, travel from private sketches to an international audience and become a symbol for gay men abroad.

Dome Karukoski directed the film, working from a screenplay by Aleksi Bardy. It is the second of the director's features in the facts, between Heart of a Lion and Tolkien. Pekka Strang plays Touko, with Lauri Tilkanen, Jessica Grabowsky, Taisto Oksanen, Seumas F. Sargent and Jakob Oftebro among the cast. The production was a Nordic and American co-production made for about four million dollars.

On TMDB the film holds a rating of 6.6 out of 10 from 141 votes, a modest audience score. Its worldwide box office of roughly two million dollars was below its budget, so the theatrical run did not recover its costs. The film runs 116 minutes.