Jalmari Helander

Director

July 21, 1976 (49 years)

Helsinki, Finland

Biography

Jalmari Helander (born 21 July 1976) is a Finnish screenwriter and film director. He is known for the 2010 film Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (which Cate Blanchett named as one of her favorite movies), the 2014 action-adventure Big Game starring Samuel L. Jackson, and the 2022 WWII action film Sisu. Before turning to feature films, Helander directed several short films and award-winning television commercials.

Filmography

7.3

Sisu: Road to Revenge

Returning to the house where his family was brutally murdered during the war, "the man who refuses to die" dismantles it, loads it on a truck, and is determined to rebuild it somewhere safe in their honor. When the commander who killed his family comes back hellbent on finishing the job, a relentless, eye-popping cross-country chase ensues.

7.4

Sisu

When an ex-soldier who discovers gold in the Lapland wilderness tries to take the loot into the city, German soldiers led by a brutal SS officer battle him.

5.5

Big Game

Air Force One is shot down by terrorists, leaving the President of the United States stranded in the wilderness of Finland. 13-year-old Oskari is on a hunting mission to prove his maturity to his kinsfolk by tracking down a deer, but instead discovers the President in an escape pod. With the terrorists closing in to capture their prize, the unlikely duo team up to escape their hunters.

6.2

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Young Pietari lives with his reindeer-herding father in arctic Finland. On the eve of Christmas, a nearby excavation makes a frightening discovery and an evil Santa Claus is unleashed…

N/A

John Rambo

The origin story of a young John Rambo during the Vietnam War.

6.4

Perfect Commando

Van Hamilton’s first ever trip to his mother’s homeland, Finland, takes a wrong turn as soon as he gets off the plane. The 23-year-old rich kid from California was supposed to have a five-star holiday with his girlfriend Rachel. Instead, he is handcuffed and sent to faraway army barracks to be trained as a commando. Van soon realises that this is not a mistake: he has fallen into a trap set by his parents, who hope that serving in a foreign army will finally turn their loved but spoiled son into a responsible man. Meanwhile, Rachel has to learn to survive in Helsinki without money or a return ticket. She becomes friends with Van’s cousin and his underground rap trio in hopes that familiarizing herself with the customs of the “Nordic white trash” will send her academic career in sociology skyrocketing.

5.0

Karkurit

No description available

6.7

Maxmillian Tarzan

The authorities are after a time-traveler identifying as Maxmillian Tarzan.

6.0

Ukkonen

Ukkonen (means Thunder) is a short film about a man called Ukkonen who was turned into a radioactive man in an accident in the Generator Corporation research plant, company secretly designing radioactive weapons with an energy business as a cover. Ukkonen starts his crusade to bring the company down and get his revenge. Nice quality for an independent production, even some special effects and some funny, overdramatic monologue by Ukkonen. Unfortunately the film is very short, lasting only about 20 minutes. Worth checking out if you somehow find this film.

7.2

The Official Rare Exports Inc. Safety Instructions 2005

Not meant for the public eye, this film reveals the dark reality of what's wrong with company's product. With its primitive instincts triggered by bad behaviour of people around it, the seemingly tame Father Christmas will forget the intensive training and turn into a brutal beast. You better watch out, you better not cry, There's no room for mistakes.

9.0

The Fakir

The Fakir is fairy tale about the responsibility of ones life, and avoiding it.

7.0

Rare Exports Inc.

An elite trio of expert hunters venture into the woods to track and capture an especially rare and dangerous prey for the Christmas season.

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