Jalmari Helander: Last News

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Jalmari Helander hasn’t made a feature since 2014’s “Big Game,” then the most expensive Finnish film to date. It was an unabashed, bombastic, good-humored action crowd-pleaser that indeed pleased crowds — at festivals, while mysteriously failing to catch on with general audiences. Presumably his concept was just too “high” for mainstream viewers to swallow: Though they don’t have any problem with Gerard Butler or Will Smith doing similar honors, it seemed too much to accept a 13-year-old Finn boy singlehandedly rescuing the president of the United States from an obstacle course of assassination peril.  That failure must have hurt; Helander has spent the interim on episodic work. His new “Sisu” is, in many ways, cut from the same cloth as “Big Game” as a splashy popcorn action piece unconcerned with credibility, pushing well-worn ideas to outlandish, and outrageously entertaining, ends. But the writer-director has hedged his bets by moving one key piece in the game to the opposite end of the board. This time, instead of a juvenile protagonist that made viewers wonder whether they were watching a movie for kids or for grown-ups (the answer “both” apparently confused them), we get a crusty coot quite spry enough to take on all foes. Which bad guys might pretty much be termed “the entire Third Reich.” 

With an unprecedented onscreen comeback under his belt, Ke Huy Quan has one dream role he hopes to get to soon.

Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) has closed a deal to star in Fairytale in New York, a Lionsgate action thriller from director Jalmari Helander (Sisu), for which the studio is launching international sales at AFM.

It’s easy to see why Sisu was touted as a Finnish John Wick by many critics.

As The Super Mario Bros Movie barrels toward a box office score that will make it the highest-grossing animated movie ever at the domestic box office, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 waits to pounce, Lionsgate is navigating the pre-summer calendar this weekend with two movies aimed at two different demos: the long-awaited feature take of Judy Blume’s 1970 novel, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret aimed at women, and their pickup of the Sony Stage 6 Finnish genre title Sisu, aimed at genre dudes.

EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Longmuir has been named EVP of Business Affairs at Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions.

Pablo Sandoval Jalmari Helander’s WWII action thriller “Sisu” has made good on its upbeat reception at Toronto Midnight Madness – Variety called it “outrageously entertaining” – winning the top award at this year’s Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia which is showing, like genre itself, clear signs of expansion.  The over 70,000 tickets sold at 2022’s Sitges were 10% up on 2019, and an all-time record. Sitges guests stood at 610, also the biggest figure ever, announced  Mònica García Massagué, director of the Sitges Foundation.  One of the other big winners at Sitges was “The House of the Devil’s” Ti West, with “Pearl,” a prequel to porn shoot slasher “X” which plays like a cross between “Psycho” and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” Variety announced in its review.

Carson Burton Finnish director Jalmari Helander aims to show TIFF audiences a new kind of action film. For the director behind “Big Game” and “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale,” his new film, “Sisu,” takes action to the next level, placing a Rambo-like character in the bitter wilderness of Finland during World War II. By Carson Burton Finnish director Jalmari Helander aims to show TIFF audiences a new kind of action film. For the director behind “Big Game” and “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale,” his new film, “Sisu,” takes action to the next level, placing a Rambo-like character in the bitter wilderness of Finland during World War II.

Wilson Chapman editorGet ready to crank up that polka music. “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” the upcoming Roku original film starring Daniel Radcliffe as the beloved parody musician, will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.The film will screen Sept. 8, TIFF’s opening night, as the first film in the festival’s annual Midnight Madness programming series.