‘Sisu’ Helmer Helander Shakes Up Genre With Toronto Festival Midnight Madness Thriller
variety.comCarson 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. “I’ve always loved action films,” Helander says. “When I saw ‘First Blood’ for the first time when I was a kid, that’s one of the biggest influences I have ever had.
Of course, I live in Finland. And Finland is a place where you don’t make an action film because we have something like 5 million people, and it’s really difficult to get money to be able to do an action film.
So that’s been a big dream of mine. And now I was in a place that I actually could do it.” Set in 1945, “Sisu” follows a Finnish ex-soldier named Aatami Korpi, played by Jorma Tommila.
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