Vares - Yksityisetsivä (2004)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Aleksi Mäkelä

Writers:

Pekka Lehtosaari (writer)
Reijo Mäki (novel)

Release Date:

23 July 2004 (Finland)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Private Detective | Police | Local Blockbuster | Hitman | Kumdo

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Juha Veijonen	...	Jussi Valtteri Vares
Laura Malmivaara	...	Eeva Sunila
Jari Halonen	...	Karl E. Miesmann
Markku Peltola	...	Luusalmi
Jorma Tommila	...	Antero Kraft
Minna Turunen	...	Ifigenia Multanen
Samuli Edelmann	...	Mikko Koitere
Pekka Valkeejärvi	...	Jari 'Hillosilmä' Munck
Kari Hietalahti	...	Tetsuo Sinkkonen
Jasper Pääkkönen	...	Jarmo
Santeri Kinnunen	...	Touko Reiman
Heli Sutela	...	Liisa, Eevan ystävä
Georges Copeloussis	...	Gennadi Antipov
Mihail Jegorenkov	...	Sergei
Viktor Drevitski	...	Juri

Also Known As:

Vares (Finland) (short title)
Vares: Private Eye (International: English title)

Runtime:

Finland:95 min

Country:

Finland

Language:

Finnish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Helsinki, Finland

Company:

Solar Films

Trivia:

The news reporter who reports about the couple's escape on the TV in Vares' house is a real news reporter in Finland's channel 4 (Nelonen).

Movie Connections:

References Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soundtrack:

Oisin maksanut lippusi

Fine Finnish crime story

"Vares" was shown during Germany's "Fantasy Filmfest" - an international film festival of fantasy, horror and film noir - and I got to watch it. I'd been looking forward to seeing a Finnish movie with English subtitles rather than the other way round (yes, I'm easy to please sometimes) but in addition to being Finnish, the movie is also QUITE good! I didn't find anything to complain about, be it the acting, soundtrack or conversations. I had a good laugh, so did my friends, and the audience applauded in the end.

The movie is exciting/tense, funny, well-paced, has some heavy action without being too violent, and you just have to love the characters.

I don't know whether this was a one timer, since there are more Vares books, I hope they produce a sequel some time in the future.