Kari Väänänen

Another good movie from the first period of Mika, with some funny moments and great cameos like Nino Manfredi, Samuel Fuller, Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders, Eddie Constantine.

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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). Alex’s wife is allergic to the money, so the cabbie endures more than he can handle trying to rid himself of the cash and the corpses.Read More »

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Directed by Matti Ijäs and written with Arto Meller, Räpsy & Dolly aka Paris Waits (1990) is a tragicomic love story of a petty criminal and a former cabaret dancer. Detective Karisto (Kari Väänänen) releases Auno “Räpsy” Pirilä (Matti Pellonpää) from prison, who in turn has to calve his childhood friend Börje (Pertti Sveholm) from criminal activities. Alcoholic Dolly (Raija Paalanen) takes Räpsy to live in Kallio, Helsinki, and hopes to move to Paris with her in the spring.Read More »

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 happy. One night Ilona comes home and finds that Lauri has purchased a beautiful television on credit. Shortly thereafter disaster strikes when Ilona’s workplace closes and Lauri gets caught in a maelstrom of downsizing. Neither is able to find suitable work right away and as time crawls by, they become humiliated and testy with each other. Read More »

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Somewhere in the tundra lives the worst rock and roll band in the world…. Aki Kaurismäki`s hilarious road movie follows the fortunes and misadventures of a struggling Siberian rock band, the Leningrad Cowboys.

A local promoter, stunned by the band`s lack of talent, advises them instead to try their luck in America. Accompanied by their autocratic manager, the Cowboys travel to New York, learning English on the plane. Sporting outsixe Quiffs, dark shades and outrageously long winkle-pickers, they are passed off as Americans. Jim Jarmusch, in a cameo role as a shifty car salesman, sells them an old Cadillac. The band strap their frozen bass player to the roof in a coffin full of beer, and head south….Read More »

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A lawyer pays a visit to Matti Ojanperä (Matti Pellonpää), a bum living under a bridge in the Helsinki harbour, to inform him that he is about to inherit an American aunt of his. The sum 1,000,000 Fmk would be his, if only he meets the qualifications set by his aunt.

He must show that he is capable of ‘living properly’ and possessing a ‘respectable occupation and a family he can support’. Otherwise the money would go to a foundation the chairman of which the lawyer himself happens to be!Read More »

Plot Synopsis from AllMovie
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 remote Finnish countryside looking for his target, Maria (Leena Harjupatana). Rosso and Maria’s brother take off in an old car to find her, and along the way they also manage any number of robberies and quick getaways. Their pursuers are bumped off to the sounds of rousing music and a quote here and there from Dante, who else? While Dante’s comedy was divine, this is good earth-bound fun.Read More »

Synopsis:
Anna, a former top model, is relegated to second-rate modeling jobs. Her lover, Ulf, a drug dealer and pimp, leaves her to settle in Stockholm. Anna gets involved with Ilja, a middle-aged fashion photographer who treats her badly and violently. The police arrest Anna and hold her in custody for a fortnight. After she is released from the prison, Ilja continues his disgusting behaviour towards her. Supported only by Taukka, a young biker with a good heart, Anna leaves for Stockholm to rejoin with Ulf. After a fatal shooting incident in the beautiful Gamla Stan, the old town district of Stockholm, Anna meets up with Taukka who has been released from the prison and together they ride towards a better future on Taukka’s gleaming bike.Read More »