When a schoolteacher is sacked, he projects his bad mood at his troubled teenage son. The son, in turn, buys a CD player from a pawnshop with counterfeit money. This starts a chain reaction of misery as every victim projects his problems on to another person.
Acting
Jasper Pääkkönen's volcanic rage as Niko.
Direction
Louhimies' unflinching chain-reaction structure.
Cinematography
Helsinki as gray purgatory.
Director
Aku Louhimies
Jasper Pääkkönen
Niko Smolander
Mikko Leppilampi
Tuomas Mikael Saraste
Pamela Tola
Elina Oravisto
Petteri Summanen
Antti Arhamo
Matleena Kuusniemi
Hannele Arhamo
Mikko Kouki
Isto Virtanen
Sulevi Peltola
Teuvo 'Teukka' Hurskainen
Pertti Sveholm
Pertti Smolander
Samuli Edelmann
'Jartsa' Matikainen
Saara Pakkasvirta
Kauppiaan äiti
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the 'New Finnish Sadness' wave alongside 'The Man Without a Past,' this helped define 2000s Nordic miserablism as exportable art.
Pääkkönen later became a MMA fighter and actual millionaire poker player — making his portrayal of desperate Niko even more haunting in retrospect.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
FI
