Tommi Eronen Movies
Jade Warrior director Antti-Jussi Annila crafts this transcendentalist shocker set in 1595, and following two brothers as they descend into a world where there is no such thing as salvation. Protestant Sweden and Orthodox Russia have just reached an uneasy truce. In the wake of their fighting, Finland has become a wasteland. Conquered Finnish brothers Knut and Erik are polar opposites; one is a hardened warrior whose mind has been twisted by the horrors of war, the other is a gentle scientist with no use for fighting. Both have been assigned the task of denoting the new border between Finland and Russia, though they're about to commit a sin that will haunt them both for the rest of their days. After leaving a young girl to die an excruciating death, Knut and Erik forge ahead into an uncharted swamp, eventually reaching an unmapped town where their mere presence awakens a force of unspeakable evil. The girl has returned to haunt them, a horror that both brothers attempt to escape by washing away their sins in a mysterious sauna. But this sauna holds a terrifying secret, and in this godforsaken land there is no mercy for men who would permit such atrocities to be committed against a mere innocent. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ville Virtanen, Tommi Eronen, (more)
- 2007
- PG13
Writer/director Antti-Jussi Annila's picture Jade Warrior (Jade Soturi) takes as its starting-off point an arresting and little-known fact -- the similarity of Chinese and Finnish mythologies -- and uses it to combine two seemingly unrelated genres: the quirky Finnish comedy drama (typified by the works of Kaurismaki) and the Chinese martial arts film. Inspired by a well-known Finnish epic called The Kalevala, the story opens with a down-on-his luck hardware merchant who gets dumped by his girlfriend. She tries to dispose of his collection of Asian artifacts at an antique dealer, but this sets off a mythical series of events that turns the merchant into a warrior prince, fated to battle a demon in icy northern Finland, responsible for enslaving all of humankind. The prince is abetted -- and then ultimately betrayed -- by a two-faced female warrior who has captured his heart and thus carries his greatest weakness in her hands. The battle involves enchanted boxes, spectacular swordfights, and supernatural events that come together -- simultaneously -- in an isolated cabin on the outskirts of Helsinki and in the rural Chinese mountains. Tommi Eronen, Markku Peltola, Zhang Jing-chu, and Krista Kosonen co-star; Annila co-authored the script with Petri Jokiranta. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommi Eronen, Markku Peltola, (more)
Producing Adults concerns a fertility counselor named Venla who is, ironically, childless. Although she wants to be a mother in the worst way, her significant other has no desire to become a father. One of Venla's co-workers, a doctor named Satu, offers to impregnate Venla with one of the samplings from the sperm donations kept at the clinic. The plot thickens when Venla begins to have serious feelings for Satu. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Minna Haapkyla, Minttu Mustakallio, (more)
- 2001
A shocking crime forces a man to re-evaluate his life, only to find that going straight is more complicated than he imagined in this acclaimed drama from Finland. Ali (Jorma Tommila) is a low-level criminal who spends much of his spare time working out at a gym with his brother Pulu (Tommi Eronen). 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 (Maria Jarvenhelmi), a bright woman with a mind of her own, and her independent nature occasionally throws him into a fit of jealousy. One night, convinced another man is trying to seduce Inka, Ali goes berserk and shoots the man several times before beating him to death with a golf club. Ali is sent to prison for his crime, where he learns that Inka is pregnant with his child; when she sends him a videotape of their son shortly after he is born, Ali is reduced to tears, and makes a solemn pledge to lead a better life and be a fit father for his son. But when Ali is released, he finds that Inka has not waited for him, and she is now involved with Alpi (Ikki Koivula), a member of a crime syndicate who was close friends with the man Ali murdered. Bad Luck Love was the first film to be nominated in all 12 categories at the Jussis Awards, the Finnish Academy Awards. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jorma Tommila, Tommi Eronen, (more)
The brutal effect of war on ordinary people is the subtext of this World War II drama from Finland. Perkola (Peter Franzen) is the leader of a small Finnish platoon sent on a mission into Russian territory in 1942. Perkola has been terribly upset since he was told that his fiancée, a nurse, was killed in battle. As the war progresses, Perkola finds that he and his men are slowly becoming capable of acts of shocking violence he would have believed unthinkable as a civilian. Rukajarven tie/Ambush received enthusiastic notices for its excellent photography and realistic battle scenes in its screenings at the 1999 Gothenburg Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Franzen, Irina Björklund, (more)
