Five Fantastic Finnish Movies You’ll Want to Watch

Few Finnish movies get international recognition, so you may be unaware that Finland has a thriving film industry that has produced many notable titles over the decades. Here are five of the very best.

Drifting Clouds

The 1996 comedy-drama Drifting Clouds is the first in writer and director Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland trilogy. The plot involves a couple who live together being fired from their individual jobs at the same time. Ilona is let go as head-waitress and Lauri is laid off at his company. With debts rising, the twosome does everything they can to find work and raise money.

At one point, they even sell their car and visit a casino in the hope of doubling their money. While it can be enjoyable to play blackjack or roulette at a brick-and-mortar or online casino (see Casumo's games), people should never sell their cars to fund the fun, as Ilona and Lauri find out. Drifting Clouds is a funny and moving movie that should be more well-known outside of Nordic countries. Director's later film Fallen Leaves achieved strong international recognition.

The Year of the Hare

This charming movie from 1977 sees a man quitting his corporate job in the city and heading to the wilderness of Lapland, where he spends a year in isolation. But when he finds a hare that has been hit by a car, the hare soon becomes the protagonist Vatanen’s faithful companion. However, when he needs to take the hare to a vet, Vatanen has to return to the city, where his two worlds are brought into conflict. This powerful and moving movie is based on the 1975 novel of the same name.

Inspector Palmu’s Error

While the 1960 movie Inspector Palmu’s Error has a fairly standard premise, in that a wealthy man is murdered and a detective arrives to solve the crime, the film is often voted the best Finnish movie ever made. Based on a 1940 novel, Inspector Palmu’s Error spawned several sequels, making Inspector Palmu as much of a household name in Finland as the likes of Hercule Poirot. The Inspector Palmu films are a key part of Finnish cinema and, while the first is still the best, all of the movies in the series are highly enjoyable and will have you trying to guess who the murderer is until the very end.

Black Ice

Directed and written and by Petri Kotwica, Black Ice is a powerful thriller about love and vengeance. The Finnish-German production debuted at the Helsinki International Film Festival in 2007. It went on to be nominated for nine Jussi Awards, and it won five, including Best Film. Black Ice is much more than a standard thriller, as the film has deep psychological and black comedy elements to it.

The plot involves a doctor finding out that her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. To get her revenge, the doctor befriends the young woman without revealing her identity. We’re not giving any spoilers for this one, though. You will just have to watch the mesmerizing movie Black Ice yourself. Recent Jussi winners show sustained award culture.

The Unknown Soldier

When The Unknown Soldier was released in Finland in 1955, more than half the entire population of the country went to see it at the cinema. Today, it is regarded as the most successful Finnish film ever made. It tells the story of the Continuation War from the front-line perspective. The war saw Finland fighting against the Soviet Union as World War II raged on further south.

The powerful film follows a group of ordinary soldiers and it manages to capture a realness not often seen in war movies. The Unknown Soldier, which is based on the classic novel by Väinö Linna, is shown on television in Finland every Finnish Independence Day. 1985 and 2017 adaptations exist; 2017 version broadcast on Independence Day.

Recent International Breakthroughs

While the classics still dominate conversations, the 2020s brought fresh evidence that Finnish stories travel. Sisu became the most successful Finnish film at the US box office in years, riding a lean, violent survival tale straight into multiplexes. Hatching and Compartment No. 6 picked up major festival prizes, proving genre and arthouse routes both work when the scripts cut deep. These titles did not erase the earlier canon, but they widened the map for viewers who arrived late to the conversation.

Modern Finnish Cinema Landscape

Local films held roughly 32 percent market share in 2025, a sturdy figure in a small territory where Hollywood usually claims the lion’s share. Stormskerry Maja proved the commercial muscle still exists, drawing audiences with a sweeping period drama that felt both intimate and expansive. The numbers reflect steady production pipelines and a public willing to back homegrown titles even when global streamers dominate the rest of the slate.

Aki Kaurismäki's Continued Legacy

Kaurismäki’s dry wit and deadpan framing never went away, and Fallen Leaves (2023) reminded international critics why the style endures. The film earned Golden Globe nominations and a steady stream of festival love, threading romance through recession-era Helsinki with the same economy that defined Drifting Clouds decades earlier. New audiences met the director through streaming, while longtime fans welcomed the familiar cigarette smoke and bruised hope.

War Film Adaptations and Legacy

The 1955 original set the template, yet two later versions kept the story alive for new generations. The 1985 adaptation added color and scale, while Aku Louhimies’s 2017 remake tightened the focus on individual soldiers and their fraying morale. The 2017 cut now airs on Independence Day alongside the classic, giving viewers a choice between archival grit and contemporary clarity without forcing a single definitive cut.

Jussi Awards Highlights

Stormskerry Maja swept six or seven categories at the 2025 Jussi Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, signaling that historical epics still land with voters when the craft is precise. A Light That Never Goes Out followed with seven wins in 2026, spreading recognition across acting, editing, and production design. The tallies keep the domestic industry visible and give emerging crews a visible ladder.

Together these titles and updates sketch a national cinema that keeps one eye on its past and another on the next festival slot. Whether you start with the 1955 war epic or the latest Kaurismäki deadpan romance, the thread remains the same: spare storytelling, lived-in faces, and a refusal to over-explain. The catalog is small enough to finish in a weekend binge yet deep enough to reward repeat visits when the weather turns and you want something that feels both local and lasting.