Kari Väänänen

Kari Väänänen

Birth : 1953-09-17, Ivalo, Finland

History

Kari Kyösti Väänänen (born 17 September 1953 in Ivalo) is a Finnish actor and director. Domestically he is a member of the Ryhmäteatteri group of actors. He was introduced to international audiences by Aki Kaurismäki; and belongs to the list of his "trusted" stable of actors. His most challenging role has been the eponymous mafia hitman of Rosso, for which he learned all his lines phonetically, without previously speaking a word of Italian. Kari Väänänen was featured in Star Wreck, a Finnish sci-fi parody where he played the Russian president. He also starred in Jim Jarmusch's 1991 film Night on Earth. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Profile

Kari Väänänen

Movies

The Missile
Christmas is-a-jingling to Lapland in 1984. Niina, a single mother, is fired from her job in a bakery and drifts into the middle of an international missile crisis in Inari when the Soviet Union shoots a missile across the Finnish border.
The Grump: In Search of an Escort
Tarmo
Grump's life follows the same familiar routines: spring is here and the early potato harvest is ripening. But Grump crashes his beloved Ford Escort and the car has to be scrapped. A new, modern vehicle is no match for quality and the nearest Escort, a 1972 model, can be found in Germany. When the Grumps's sons refuse to help, he must travel to Germany alone.
Fingerpori
Homelius
Live action comedy about a fictional town and it's uncommon people, based on a comic strip 'Fingerpori', by Pertti Jarla.
Master Cheng
Romppainen
Cheng, 45, a restaurant owner from China, has travelled with his young son halfway around the world to a remote village in Finland. His wife died recently in an accident, and Cheng wanted to have a break from everything by traveling with his son to see an old Finnish friend who lives on a farm in the countryside of Finland. It’s the most remote place Cheng can imagine with endless forests, thousands of lakes, a country with entire population of one-fifth of Cheng’s home town, Shanghai.
Ryhmäteatteri
Documentary on the history of Ryhmäteatteri theatre company.
Kiwi Christmas
Santa
Fed up with the materialism of Christmas, Santa runs away to New Zealand for a summer holiday. When two Kiwi kids figure out who he is, they have to find a way to get him back to the North Pole in time for Christmas.
Lapland Odyssey 3
Räihäsen isä
In the third instalment of the franchise, Janne embarks on an epic hike, a journey of self-discovery. His dreams of a tranquil retreat into nature are quickly shattered however, when Räihänen and Kämäräinen both decide to come along for the trip. Meanwhile Janne’s spouse Inari gets the chance to go back to work, but only if she can prove she’s “management material” and a real leader. Inari enters the Swamp Soccer tournament, where to her horror she finds out her ex Little Mikko is also competing.
We Are the Pirates of the Roads
Hurja-Kaarlo
The Rosvola family – The Robbersons drive around the country in their pirate car robbing bypassing cars of their sweets, extra food and consumer goods. Life changes for the Rosvolas when they accidentally kidnap 10-year-old Vilja, a diligent school girl. Will Vilja succeed in escaping or will she become friends with the Rosvolas´ children Hele (12 years) and Kalle (9 years)? We are the Pirates of the Roads is a funny and crazy adventurous road movie for children.
The Rise and Fall of a Friendship
Jalo Rautakumpu
The egocentric author Jalo Rautakumpu welcomes a visitor to his cabin in the Lappish wilderness. After sauna and a bottle of alcohol, the friendship is formed. But friends can be bad for business.
Let My People Go!
Mr. Tiilikainen
Everyone knows that Ruben is Jewish, gay, half-French, half-Finnish, an ungrateful son and disappointing lover, a thief who can’t help himself, and possibly a murderer to boot. The only person who doesn't know who Ruben is is Ruben himself. When he comes to a major turning point in his life, Ruben cannot make up his mind which way to go. Should he follow his people or his heart?
Bohemian Eyes
Documentary about the life of Finnish actor Matti Pellonpää.
Backwood Philosopher
Severi
Self-taught philosopher Konsta Pylkkänen guides a group of researchers through Finland's Kainuu wilderness in the hopes of having a "sinistä ajatusta", idea out of the blue. While firing upon a hybrid of the hazel grouse and the western capercaillie, kinds of birds, he indeed makes a scientific discovery.
Backwood Philosopher
Screenplay
Self-taught philosopher Konsta Pylkkänen guides a group of researchers through Finland's Kainuu wilderness in the hopes of having a "sinistä ajatusta", idea out of the blue. While firing upon a hybrid of the hazel grouse and the western capercaillie, kinds of birds, he indeed makes a scientific discovery.
Backwood Philosopher
Director
Self-taught philosopher Konsta Pylkkänen guides a group of researchers through Finland's Kainuu wilderness in the hopes of having a "sinistä ajatusta", idea out of the blue. While firing upon a hybrid of the hazel grouse and the western capercaillie, kinds of birds, he indeed makes a scientific discovery.
The House of Branching Love
Niilo
A sort of "Divorce Finnish Style," Mika Kaurismäki's rambunctious comedy, The House of Branching Love , recounts the breakup of a thirty-something professional couple - Juhani, a family therapist, and his wife, Tuula, a successful business trainer.
One Foot Under
Salmela
Visa Vuorio (Tobias Zilliacus), a 35-year old team leader at the Helsinki city gardening department, is suffering from a terminal neurological disease and only has a few months to live. Because of this, he is a member of a therapeutical support group for people suffering from terminal diseases. Visa's life changes when a young female reporter, Hanna Manninen (Helena Vierikko), arrives at the support group offering to write a series of articles about Visa's life story.
Christmas Story
Iisakki
Hundreds of years ago in Lapland, a little boy named Nikolas loses his family in an accident. The villagers decide to look after the orphaned boy together. Once a year - at Christmas - Nikolas moves to a new home. To show his gratitude, Nikolas decides to make toys for the children of the families as good-bye presents. Over the years, Nikolas's former adoptive families become many, and soon almost every house has presents on its doorstep on Christmas morning. At thirteen, Nikolas is sent to live and work with Iisakki, a grumpy old carpenter, who forbids Nikolas to continue making presents for Christmas. Gradually, however, Nikolas wins Iisakki's trust. Together they begin to look after the Christmas traditional that Nikolas has begun. When the aged Iisakki has to leave Nikolas and move away, the tradition of Christmas presents is once again at risk. Thankfully, Nikolas comes up with a solution that brings children joy every Christmas, even continuing to today.
V2: Dead Angel
Police Lieutenant Usko Saastamoinen
The tough Detective Vares, get hired by a friend accused of murdering a girl. His job is to find the real killer, but people aren't talking. Before he can get traction another homicide takes place- and things move toward a dire conclusion.
Rock'n Roll Never Dies
Laakkonen
Finnish rocker movie
Onni von Sopanen
P.E. teacher
11-year-old Onni is struck with the idea that his parents aren't his biological parents.
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning
President Uljanov
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning begins with Captain James B. Pirk of the starship Kickstart shipwrecked on the 21st century Earth with his crew. Originally from the distant future, Pirk and his crew traveled back in time to save the Earth from hostile aliens, but lost their ship and became stranded. Pirk's daily routine consists mainly of stuffing his face at the local fast food restaurant, and he is finding it difficult to convince the ladies he is, in fact, an intergalactic space hero from the future. As the prospects for humanity's conquest of space look increasingly bleaker, Pirk comes up with a questionable plan to save mankind's future...
Honey Baby
der Große Enrico
An American, with a past as a successful musician, makes a living by playing at weddings and the likes in Germany. Then he gets an offer to tour in East Europe. During his travels he gets insight and finds true love.
Trench Road
Jarmo Kesämaa
After his wife leaves him, a man becomes obsessed getting his family back together by buying an old house.
Land of Love
Hannu Rinta-Perkiö
A comedy of a Finnish man who falls in love, gets tangled deeper into a circle of lies and finds out that he has suddenly changed his name, nationality and skin colour for the sake of love.
Kymmenen riivinrautaa
Heikki Korkkalainen
The Classic
Writer
A self-loving fictional autobiography of author Kari Hotakainen.
The Classic
Director
A self-loving fictional autobiography of author Kari Hotakainen.
Highway Society
The mechanic Jack tries to get rid of his criminal background.
Bad Luck Love
Heinonen
A shocking crime forces a man to re-evaluate his life, only to find that going straight is more complicated than he imagined. Ali is a low-level criminal who spends much of his spare time working out at a gym with his brother Pulu. Ali spends most of his day stoned on marijuana, while Pulu is known to drink cleaning products when he's run out of booze. Ali has fallen in love with Inka, a bright woman with a mind of her own, and her independent nature occasionally throws him into a fit of jealousy.
Lakeuden kutsu
Erkki Hakala
Spy Games
A romantic suspense-comedy about CIA agent Harry (Bill Pullman) and SVR agent Natasha (Irene Jacob) fighting to save the world, their lives and secret love in the post cold war Helsinki
Ambush
Corporal Tauno Snicker
It is the summer of 1941 and the Finnish army has been mobilized along the border with Russia. A platoon led by Lt. Eero Perkola is waiting for orders to go on the offensive. The platoon receives orders for a recon mission through the wilderness around the Lieksa lake to search for possible Russian defensive positions.
The Tough Ones
Törnqvist
Häjyt tells a story of two friends who have a hard time finding their place in the society. Antti and Jussi are released from jail. While they were doing time for bank robbery, the third man involved in the robbery, the one who was not convicted, has become a policeman. He tries to help his friends to settle into the small town in Pohjanmaa, but the boys start a black market liquor business instead. The road seems to lead back to the jail.
Train Birds
Asko, Milchfahrer
Hannes is a beer truck driver in Dortmund. His biggest dream is to win the first prize at the International Timetable Contest in Inari (Finland). When his new boss cancels his extra holidays to go there, Hans goes mad… On his journey to Finland by train, followed by the police, he meets lot of folks and the love of his life.
Underwater Iceland
Narrator
Marko Röhr's film crew takes the viewer to Europe's last unexplored area: Iceland's unique underwater world. We explore the geysers of boiling waters and the crystal clear lakes off the coast of Iceland. We dive under the icebergs, into the tears between the continental plates and into the deep caves.
Vaiennut kylä
Director
Sambolico
Eric
A short directed by Mika Kaurismäki.
Drifting Clouds
Lauri
Tram driver Lauri loses his job. Shortly later, the restaurant where his wife Ilona works as a headwaitress is closed. Too proud, to receive money from the social welfare system, they hardly try to find new jobs. But they are completely unlucky and clumsy, one disaster is followed by the next. Finally, their courage, confidence, and their unbreakable love triumph over the fate.
Iron Horsemen
Darling
Bad Trip, a biker who has been freshly inducted into a gang, flees from them after stealing one of their bikes.
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
The Mute
After years of fame and misfortune in Mexico, the members of the Leningrad Cowboys decide to return to their native village. Their former manager Vladimir, who now calls himself Moses lead them on their way home.
Goodbye Gibraltar
Jorma
Goodbye Gibraltar, directed by Ulrika Bengst, is a film about reconciliation, encountering different lifestyles and dreams.
Sutki
Director
Finnish comedy.
The Last Border
Borka
One man's quest for revenge in a post-apocalyptic world
Ripa Hits the Skids
Lynkkynen
A week-long glimpse into the wretched existence of Ripa, a long-haired, hard-drinking lug. He is also a filmmaker-wannabee, whose last two projects were condemned for their sex and violence. A Parasite Deluxe, who barely recalls his previous night, Ripa cruises the bars and meets bank-teller Tiina.
The Champion
Eero Tyrni
La Vie de Bohème
Schaunard
Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.
Night on Earth
Man #1 Helsinki
An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Zombie and the Ghost Train
Upseeri (voice)
Antti "Zombie" Autiomaa does two things well: play the bass guitar and drink. After several months' sleeping on the streets of Istanbul, he returns to Helsinki where he's called into the army but discharged on mental health grounds after adding turpentine to the officers' soup. Zombie lives bleary-eyed in an apartment off his parents' house where his lonely, unemployed father suffers from heart disease. His girl-friend Marjo has taken up with a hairdresser but comes back to Zombie. His friend Harri hires him as a roadie for his band "Harry and the Mulefukkers" then gives him a chance as a bass player. He has his girl and he has a gig, but can Zombie put the bottle down?
Amazon
Kari
Widowed and broke Finnish businessman Kari takes his two teenage daughters with him to Brazil. A bush pilot introduces him to the idea of gold mining in the jungle, but a beautiful and educated local woman warns him about the possible consequences to the rain forest. Kari has mixed feelings about the project, until an accident puts him in the care of a local Indian tribe.
Dolly and Her Lover
Detective Karisto
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.
Dirty Hands
Ivan
A political drama set in the fictional country of Illyria between 1943 and 1945, the story is about the assassination of a leading politician. The country, an ally of Nazi Germany, is on the verge of being annexed to the Eastern Bloc. Kaurismäki's TV adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's play Les Mains Sales (Dirty Hands) tells the story of Hugo (Matti Pellonpää) who has just been released from prison. Before going to prison, he has worked as a journalist at his party's newspaper. This timid journalist, who uses the pseudonym Raskolnikov, wants to advance in his career and gets his chance when Hoederer (Sulevi Peltola), the leader of the party, has to be eliminated.
Paper Star
Ilja Kulovaara
Anna Kelanen is an ex-model, who just has been released from prison. She thinks back on her life, when she was a rather successful model, and on the things that went wrong.
Kukunor
Ihmissyöjä
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
Igor (Village Idiot)
The Leningrad Cowboys, a group of Siberian musicians, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band.
Cha Cha Cha
Kari Pöllänen
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!
Helsinki Napoli - All Night Long
Alex
Alex is a Finnish taxi driver in Berlin. One evening pits two men feel comfortable in his taxi with a briefcase full of money, but unfortunately for Alex's money stolen and a group of gangsters are at the nape of the two. Soon it comes to shooting, and when the two men being killed, is good advice costly for the beleaguered driver. "Helsinki Napoli All Night Long" is Mika Kaurismäki's first major European production. The film features a host of famous names in the cast: The legendary film director Samuel Fuller (The Big Red One), actor Eddie Constantine (Alphaville, Europe), cult directors Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas) and Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man).
Hamlet Goes Business
Lauri Polonius
A bizarre black-and-white film noir reworking of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
Siriuksen vieraat
Anders
Älä itke Iines
Älä itke Iines is an absurd comedy about an eccentric community that lives on the roofs and attic of an apartment building, struggling to improve their living conditions. The dialogue is entirely improvised by the actors.
Näkemiin, hyvästi
When a new man appears in Tuula's life, Jorma does not tolerate the idea and begins to yearn back for his ex-wife. They drift into a situation where both face a big choice that has far-reaching implications for the rest of their lives.
The King Goes Forth to France
Narrator
A new ice age is coming to England. All energy sources have been depleted and despair is taking over the earth. The young king decides to use his last trump card before his power collapses and anarchy reigns over the island kingdom.
Harmagedon
Film by Juha Rosma
The Unknown Soldier
Lammio
Second silver screen adaption of the Finnish war book by Väinö Linna. The story is based on Linna's experiences as an infantry man in the Finnish army during the so called "Continuation War" (1941-1944).
Ylösnousemus
Touko Heinävesi
A man fakes his own suicide in order to see how his close ones react
Rosso
Writer
Giancarlo Rosso, a professional assassin from Sicily, is sent to Finland to kill a very specific target. When he reaches the country, he discovers that the target is one of his past loves.
Rosso
Rosso
Giancarlo Rosso, a professional assassin from Sicily, is sent to Finland to kill a very specific target. When he reaches the country, he discovers that the target is one of his past loves.
Calamari Union
Frank
Calamari Union is an allegorical movie that tells the story of sixteen men all of whom are called Frank (inspired by Frank Armoton) apart from a single confrere, Pekka. Collectively the Franks and Pekka are unhappy with the perceived oppression they face in their district of Helsinki, Kallio, and decide to move to another, Eira, imagining it to be an unspoiled place where people can live lives of dignity. The journey is an ironic one given that both districts are not so far apart. In this spirit, their journey across the city takes on epic proportions with each of the travellers gradually falling by the wayside due to such travails as marriage, work, and death. In its entirety the film is a wry discussion of humanity within a system that regards humans as subservient components.
Rare, Medium, Well Done
Anssi Mänttäri’s low-budget movies with their intimate content have become classics. In this black comedy that takes place in Helsinki in summer the main character (played by Mänttäri himself) jumps from one bar and bed to the next. Especially vulgar black humour.
The Clan – Tale of the Frogs
Leevi Sammakko
Young Alex Sammako has seen his brothers defy the law in a series of deeds that first land them in jail, and then, after they escape and return to their rural home, land them back in the lap of their locally notorious family. Alex wants nothing to do with them. He is in love with Mirja, whose family is not that different from the Sammakos, but who shares Alex's viewpoints and feelings. Not helping matters is a police department convinced that all Sammakos are bad, and the family itself, pressuring Alex to follow in their murky footsteps.
Apinan vuosi
Rene
A young student seeks direction in his life to counterbalance the studies through female adventures.
Jon
Jon
Story of Jari, a misfit and coward who, after hitting his girlfriend escapes to a fish factory in Norway. There he meets Heikki, who works for the same company. However, the violence follows Jon in Norway too.
Kuoleman hellä kosketus
Hullu
Sign of the Beast
Nuori kapteeni
Set during the Second World War in the Finnish war zone.
The Breakthrough
Police officer (uncredited)
A student film.