Amid the slew of earnest and well-made but depressing foreign language entries this year, Mushrooming was a refreshing satiric comedy. We meet legislator Aadu who, on the advice of his publicity advisor, appears on a ridiculous TV game show because it will help the common electorate bond with him. Sad to say, the advisor is right. Just as a scandal is about to break, relating to a vacation to Machu Picchu he billed to the taxpayers, Aadu and his wife, Viivi, go mushroom-picking in the forest. They are accompanied by dissolute local rock star Zak, who stays in the car. Aadu and Viivi become lost, but eventually refind Zak, and the three of them are pursued in Deliverance fashion by a crazed forest dweller. But this is a comedy, so the supposed villain is merely a misfit who is convinced that society is controlled by a conspiracy of people who appear on television. “When you’re on TV, they give you free food, don’t they? Don’t they?!” Estonia is a small country, but the cults of celebrity and political celebrity work pretty much the same way they do in any other country.
