Veijo runs a black-market operation euthanizing people's ailing pets. He seems to be able to communicate with animals. He charges his customers a fee that’s based on how much they loved their pets, but the prices he is asking are beginning to get out of hand.

The film Euthanizer draws one’s attention in the way it makes a sense of unfamiliarity more unfamiliar. This violent Finnish noir and strange thriller tells the story of a 50-year-old mechanic, Veijo whose second job is euthanizing sick pets. He believes in samsara, and thus sticks to the principle to refrain from killing perfectly healthy animals. He is fair, yet merciless, and isn’t keen on defending his actions. He lectures people in his own way. He starts a sexual relationship that shifts between sadism and masochism with a nurse who is hired to take care of his hemiplegic father. The film, in this manner gradually builds up a sense of crisis and conflict. Filmmaker Teemu Nikki’s directorial skills are impressive in the way he creates a mood of bleakness that is the total opposite of what we usually see in provocative mainstream cinema. ‘Sua Lemmin Kuin Järjetön Mä Oisin’, the Finnish cover of the well-known piece in romantic music, ‘I Love You for Sentimental Reasons’ is an extremely cynical version of the original that will give one goosebumps throughout the film. (JUNGHYUN Hae-yong)