Kari VäänänenFilmography

Christmas Story

Actors: Hannu-Pekka Bjorkman, Kari Väänänen, Mikko Leppilampi, Minna Haapkyla

Synopsis: This Finnish-language period fantasy tells the story of the altruistic giver St. Nicholas, the man who became Santa Claus in myth and legend - and whose life, shown here childhood on, radiates with messages of selflessness and friendship. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide Read More

Capone

Actors: Serge Riaboukine, Gérald Laroche, Florence Thomassin, Kari Väänänen, Jean Miez, Bruno Guillot

Synopsis: A mobster and a taxi driver give a new definition to the phrase "horse race" in this low-key comedy drama. Réno (Serge Riaboukine) is a second-rate gangster whose attempted big deals haven't been especially successful lately. Réno is losing bets at a racetrack when he spies a horse named Capone Read More

Honey Baby

Actors: Henry Thomas, Irina Björklund, Helmut Berger, Kari Väänänen, Helena Gorbunova, Katerina Golanova

Bad Luck Love

Actors: Jorma Tommila, Tommi Eronen, Rauno Juvonen

Synopsis: A shocking crime forces a man to re-evaluate his life, only to find that going straight is more complicated than he imagined in this acclaimed drama from Finland. Ali (Jorma Tommila) is a low-level criminal who spends much of his spare time working out at a gym with his brother Pulu (Tommi Read More

Klassikko

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Martti Suosalo, Matti Onnismaa, Pertti Sveholm, Pirkka-Pekka Petelius

Synopsis: A writer begins to wonder about his life and his manhood in this satiric comedy. Kari Hotakainen (Martti Suosalo) is a novelist whose career isn't going especially well; while his books are well reviewed, they don't sell, and his publishers have told him they want him to make some changes for his Read More

Ambush

Actors: Peter Franzen, Irina Björklund, Kari Heiskanen, Taisto Reimaluoto, Kari Väänänen

Synopsis: The brutal effect of war on ordinary people is the subtext of this World War II drama from Finland. Perkola (Peter Franzen) is the leader of a small Finnish platoon sent on a mission into Russian territory in 1942. Perkola has been terribly upset since he was told that his fiancée, a nurse, was Read More

Hajyt

Actors: Samuli Edelmann, Juha Veijonen, Teemu Lehtila, Kalevi Haapoja, Arttu Kapulainen

Synopsis: Hajyt is a film about friends who have a hard time finding their place in society. The story is set in the 1990's but it is based on the most famous Finnish criminal legend of the 1800's about two criminals who held their hometown in terror. The Finnish word for these kinds of criminals is Read More

Vaiennut Kyla

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Imbued with flashes of comedy amidst the suspense, this Finnish mystery follows an urban policeman assigned to oversee the police force of a tiny rural community. There, he immerses himself in solving the case of a teenage girl who was murdered 18 months before. The officer's predecessor blamed Read More

Kauas Pilvet Karkaavat

Synopsis: A married couple struggles with the repercussions of unexpected unemployment in this wry comedy drama from Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki. Ilona, the wife, works as restaurant hostess and her husband Lauri drives a tram. Though the couple has recently lost a child, they both seem at peace and Read More

Erotic Tales III

Actors: Kari Väänänen, Ivan Setta, Antonio Calloni, Bianca Koedam, Gene Bervoets, Annet Malherbe

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses

Actors: Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, André Wilms, Nicky Tesco

Synopsis: This comedy is a sequel to Aki Kaurismaki's successful Leningrad Cowboys Go America. The Lennigrad Cowboys are billed as the "worst rock'n'roll band in the world." In the last film they went to the U.S. In this film they travel from Mexico back to Lennigrad. The story begins in Mexico. The band Read More

Iron Horsemen

Actors: Dominic Gould, Laura Favali, Kari Väänänen, Nicky Tesco, Matti Pellonpää

Synopsis: This European film, shot entirely in rural Finland, parodies American biker movies from the 1960's. It tells the strange and convoluted story of acid-head, biker Bad Trip who belonged to a motorcycle gang known as the Cannibals. Trip is on the run from his former gang after he is caught stealing Read More

The Last Border

Actors: Jolyon Baker, Fanny Bastien, Jürgen Prochnow, Kari Väänänen, Matti Pellonpää

Synopsis: It is the year 2009, and civilization has almost perished on the planet, choked to death by pollution. The only place it survives is in the frigid far north. There, the few survivors are governed by a harsh military government, and dissenters quickly find themselves rounded up by the murderous Read More

Ripa Ruostuu

Synopsis: Ripa (Sam Huber) is an honest con-man, if there is such a thing. He honestly wants money so that he can make the kinds of sexy and violent films he wants to make. He can't seem to get any from his ex-wife, and the state film board won't front any. He has been getting by on little loans from his Read More

Night on Earth

Actors: Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Roberto Benigni, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Lisanne Falk, Béatrice Dalle

Synopsis: Jim Jarmusch's deadpan comedy-of-the-night is a collection of five vignettes taking place in the enclosed space of a cab ride, each occurring simultaneously in five different cities and five different time zones -- Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The Los Angeles episode Read More

La Vie De Bohème

Actors: Matti Pellonpää, Evelyne Didi, André Wilms, Kari Väänänen, Christine Murillo

Synopsis: This is a well-regarded contemporary dramatic retelling of the story most familiar to audiences from Puccini's great opera La Bohème and was made by the noted Finnish film director Aki Kaurismaki. Like the opera, it is based on the novel Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. Despite their Read More

Missa On Musette?

Actors: Aki Kaurismäki, Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, André Wilms, Evelyne Didi

Synopsis: The makers of this laudatory documentary have caught filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki at work on his film La Vie de Boheme. Aki and his brother Mika have, between them, completely revitalized Finland's native film industry, and their wild, anarchic films have delighted audiences while smashing through old Read More

Zombie Ja Kummitusjuna

Actors: Silu Seppälä, Matti Pellonpää

Synopsis: In a Monty Python skit, Graham Chapman once donned the attire of a Swiss maiden and went about selling honey in Britain door-to-door. When asked by John Cleese whether his job wasn't a miserable, unprofitable one, Chapman answered "It is, but I'd do anything to stay out of Iceland." The country of Read More

Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Actors: Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, Sakke Jarvenpaa

Synopsis: The odd comedies of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki may be an acquired taste, but it is one which more and more people are getting. The story concerns the exploits of an extremely inept but dedicated troupe of accordian musicians, "The Leningrad Cowboys," whose sheer awfulness puts SCTV's Read More

Helsinki Napoli All Night Long

Actors: Kari Väänänen, Roberta Manfredi, Nino Manfredi, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Margi Clarke

Synopsis: Alex (Kari Vaananen) is a Finnish cabbie working in Berlin with plenty of problems in this comedy with film noir touches. With two dead men and a suitcase filled with hundred dollar bills, he has difficulty disposing of the bodies. He is chased by the top crime boss (Samuel Fuller) and his crony (Eddie Constantine Read More

Rapsy & Dolly

Actors: Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, Eeva Litmanen

Synopsis: Räpsy (Matti Pellonpää) leaves prison after his term is up with every intention of going straight. However, he's got a few debts to pay to some pretty shady characters. In addition, he's being doggedly followed by a hardworking police detective. While he works off his debts, he hides for a bit Read More

Amazon

Actors: Kari Väänänen, Robert Davi, Rae Dawn Chong, Minna Sovio, Rui Polanah, Ailo Sovio

Synopsis: Finnish director Mika Kaurismaki (who also co-wrote the screenplay) made his English-language feature debut with this tale of foreigners adrift in the treacherous labyrinth of the Brazilian jungle. Kari (Kari Vaananen) is driving down the Trans-Amazonica Highway -- actually a two-lane dirt road Read More

Cha Cha Cha

Actors: Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen

Synopsis: In this antic comedy, a sleazy used-car salesman chooses to become temporarily homeless, and has turned over his home and wife to his best friend so that he can be transformed into a suitably respectable figure to qualify for a large inheritance under the terms of the deceased's will. ~ Clarke Read More

Paperitahti

Actors: Pirkko Hamalainen, Kari Väänänen

Synopsis: In this somewhat leisurely-paced drama, a former model recollects her life and considers what she will do with it now that she can no longer model. She is in jail for killing an abusive boyfriend who has ruined her face for future modeling work. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide Read More

Hamlet Liikemaailmassa

Actors: Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Esko Salminen, Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Kari Väänänen

Synopsis: The plot of William Shakespeare's Hamlet had already been transposed to the modern business world twice before the release of Hamlet Goes Business. These earlier films, Strange Illusion (46) and The Rest is Silence (60), are nearly as dour as the Shakespeare original. Only Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki Read More

Ala itke, Iines

Actors: Eija Vilpas, Kari Väänänen, Sari Mallinen, Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Vesa Vierikko

Synopsis: In this chaotic jumble of a story, an exemplary product of a school of anarchic filmmaking, a crew of people living on the fringes of Finnish society inhabit a variety of transient abodes, from the attic of a building to a large outbuilding made to hold garbage. Some of the residents earn their Read More

Calamari Union

Actors: Markku Toikka, Kari Väänänen, Asmo Hurula, Matti Pellonpää, Mato Valtonen

Synopsis: Avant-garde, experimental and misogynist in the bargain, this oddball film is about 17 men named Frank who make their way through Helsinki in a commandeered subway car. Their goal is to reach the symbolically peaceful, perfect coastal town of Eira. Along the way they perform some pop music, one of Read More

Klaani: Tarina Sammakoitten Suvusta

Actors: Juhani Niemela, Kari Väänänen, Antti Litja

Synopsis: In this subtly engaging story about two people who fall in love and try to overcome their families' criminal inclinations, the breathtaking summer scenery of Finland sets the backdrop for a personal battle between ethics on the one hand, and a life of petty crime on the other. Young Alex Sammako Read More

Rosso

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Kari Väänänen, Leena Harjupatana, Martti Syria, Mirja Oksanen

Synopsis: This well-paced farce sends up intellectual thrillers as hitman Rosso (the handsomeKari Vaananen, also co-scripter) is assigned the job of eliminating a certain Finnish woman who coincidentally was once his summer love. The reluctant gangster heads north from Sicily and ultimately lands in the Read More

Jon - Kertomus Maailman Lopusta

Actors: Kari Väänänen, Vesa-Matti Loiri, Nils Utsi

Synopsis: This scenic movie is about Jon -- a young man who escapes Helsinki, and who is being chased by the police (he beat up his lover) -- and how he came to an isolated village on the northern coast of Norway. The scenery in and around the coastal village is a stunning "co-star" in the film. After Jon Read More

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