Movies: Esko Salminen

Finnish period comedy set to the times of WW I. Based on a play by Maria Jotuni....

Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer...

An comedy set in 1960s Helsinki. The story revolves around Elsa, a resolute hatmaker who is in complete control of her life. Besides running her shop, she sometimes doubles as a fortune teller. When Jan, a Czechoslovakian jazz musician and Elsa's old...

A story of a mink coat passing from one owner to another binding their fates....

This biographical film celebrates the little-known life of the Finnish novelist and revolutionary Maiju Lassila (Asko Sarkola), born in 1868. Lassila's early years are briefly shown, then the film richly details his active and paradoxically reclusive...

A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide....

The life of First Lieutenant Heikki Lilja, who is dating Colonel Taipale's daughter Tiina, is turned upside down when his company is ordered to search for the dangerous escaped convict Kahle-Kustaa. Things are complicated by Lilja's friend, the artis...

For six hundred years Sweden had controlled most of Finland until the war with Russia that ended in 1809, when Finland became a Grand Duchy of the Russian Czar. This period drama is set during that early 19th-century war and focuses on one of its her...

A closed room mystery begins when an infamous tycoon is found dead in his bath tub. The famous police lieutenant Palmu is summoned to investigate....

An uptight all-girl school teacher Leena Kataja stumbles upon a handsome artist Pertti Rinne who paints her face on a nude portrait, much to her chagrin. She is intent on keeping the painting out of circulation by stealing it from an art gallery, but...

Emilia is a suburban kid. She goes to school, lives with her Mom and sometimes her Dad, and her life couldn’t be more ordinary. But one day Emilia’s pet hamster bites her finger. Emilia gets a secret superpower to transform into Super Furball, who ca...

A film centered around a popular Finnish song book. Young lovers Pirkko and Pekka break off their engagement at the end of an evening spent at a dance restaurant. At home, Pirkko finds a songbook in her room, whose songs turn into musical scenes. The...

Paavo and Eeva, two young people who have moved from the countryside to the city, meet a gang led by Kalle, who spend their time loitering and committing petty crimes. A fateful evening on a motorboat irrevocably changes the young people's lives....

Three brothers from three different mothers meet for the first time since years for their mutual father’s 70th birthday: nihilistic writer Ivar, failed film producer Mitja, and resentful caretaker Torsti....

Rousku and Raninen are fleeing their unemployment by setting up a construction company. Occupational illiteracy is not an obstacle and accounting is fine when Rouskun's mate deals with things. The entrepreneurs know that the poor can be, but not arti...

Based on a novel of the same name by the Finnish author, Antti Tuuri, this delicious late-80's comedy builds its dark humour on the stereotypical mentality of the northern part of Finland. While perhaps not as entertaining to a person unfamiliar with...

A film about the end of the world....

In the 1970s, Turku City Theater staged an adaptation of Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers, directed by Kalle Holmberg. The premiere was in 1972, and performances continued for three years. The play was the biggest theatrical event of its time and a huge...

19th century drama set on the plains of Ostrobothnia, western Finland, which are controlled by groups of knife-wielding thugs, the toughs. Traditionally, the first-born son inherits everything, so when Esko – a bum and a gang leader – learns that his...

Rauno Rämekorpi is celebrating his 60th birthday. He has been awarded the title of Industrial Counsellor, and the company's management has commissioned a biography of him. After the celebrations, the industrial counsellor orders a taxi to take the fl...