Summer by the River, A (Kuningasjatka)

For this Finnish drama, writer-director Markkku Polonen (The Last Wedding) recaptured the mood and charm identified with Scandinavian films of the '50s. Widower Tenho (Pertti Koivula) takes his ten-year-old son Topi (Simo Kontio) to eastern Finland while he tackles grueling and exhausting hard work as a logger during a mid-'50s summer.

Tenho's logging blunders and mistakes bring jeers and harassment from his tough co-workers, but he finds romance after a local attractive blonde takes an interest in him. Trouble interrupts at an outdoor dance, leading locals and loggers into a violent confrontation with fists flying.

As Tenho's work improves, he gains the respect of the other loggers, and over the course of the summer, the father and son grow close. Actors challenged the currents during scenes showing them riding the logs down the river.