Mikko Niskanen

Directing

Mikko Niskanen

Born 1929-01-31 · Äänekoski, Finland

Mikko Niskanen was a Finnish film director and actor. He was born in Äänekoski, Central Finland in 1929. He was the third of six children, and his father worked as a timber barge pilot. His mother too had a job outside the home, so the children often spent summers with their grandmother in Viitasaari. At the age of 13, Mikko Niskanen started working in timber felling and floating. Two years later he enrolled in a vocational school in Jyväskylä to become a car mechanic. He took a serious interest in amateur theatre and was accepted to study at the Finnish Theatre Academy in Helsinki from 1947 until 1950. He then acted in Jyväskylä and Kuopio theatres until 1954 when he landed an actor's job at the film studios of Suomen Filmiteollisuus in Helsinki. One of his first film roles was in Edvin Laine's The Unknown Soldier (1955). Between 1958 and 1961 Niskanen studied at the Moscow Film School in the Soviet Union. Niskanen's 1962 film The Boys was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. He continued his directing career focusing on themes such as rural life and youth. His second breakthrough was Under Your Skin (Käpy selän alla, 1966), a story of two young couples spending a weekend camping in the countryside. The film received six Jussi Awards and was followed by another story about young lovers, Asfalttilampaat (1968). Niskanen's tour de force as both actor and director was the five-hour television drama Eight Deadly Shots which was also released as a 145-minute theatrical version edited by Jörn Donner. Based on a true story from late 1960s Finland, it is a naturalistic drama about a poor farmer struggling to make a living for his family. He gradually becomes a violent alcoholic who goes on killing spree when the police arrive to calm him down. Besides directing, Niskanen gave a powerful and intense performance in the leading role. The film, like many of Niskanen's works were shot on locations around his home province north of Jyväskylä. Mikko Niskanen died of cancer at the age of 61.

Acting credits

Eight Deadly Shots poster
7.7

Small-scale farmer Pasi shoots four policemen who have come to arrest him for raged drunkenness. Rest of the movie is a long flashback examining the events that finally leads to the tragic shooting. As time goes by, Pasi sinks gradually deeper and deeper into the poverty, gets into trouble with both police and tax officials while family arguments grow more and more serious. Based on a true story.

Eight Deadly Shots

1972

Girl of Finland poster
6.2

A theater group is training for the play Lapualaisooppera. We see these young people hanging out and talking about what goes on around them. Also sexual matters are involved there and this girl, Tenu, becomes pregnant to Hessu.

Girl of Finland

1967

Gotta Run! poster
6.3

Juuso, Late, and Pyry return from military service to their small village in the Finnish countryside. Finding work is difficult there, so Juuso decides to take a job on a Norwegian oil drilling platform. Late could start working on his family's chicken farm but wants to break free from his father who has a new wife. Looking for work in Gothenburg, Sweden, he only runs into more problems and is deported back to Finland. Pyry would like to take over his late father's farm but family quarrels over the estate make him quit his agricultural studies and, together with drifter Late, take a job in a steel mill in southern Finland.

Gotta Run!

1982

Pulakapina poster
7.0

Based on a true story about the so called 1932 Horse Rebellion in Nivala, Finland. The decision to put down a sick horse owned by a poor farmer rises the farmers in open rebellion against the authorities.

Pulakapina

1977

Elämän vonkamies poster
7.1

Portrait of rural life in 1920s Northern Finland. The film follows the early life of a boy called Kalle and his family in the shores of river Iijoki.

Elämän vonkamies

1986

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta poster
5.6

Olavi Koskela, a ladies' man, joins the loggers. As a log driver, Olavi travels from place to place, seducing one girl after another and then abandoning them. Only Kyllikki, the daughter of a wealthy family, is able to resist his advances and incites him to challenge another log driver to a race down the rapids. Through Kyllikki, Olavi is forced to face the consequences of his actions and reflect on the meaninglessness of his life.

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta

1971

Nuoruuteni savotat poster
7.0

Lumberjacking is a second part of saga about young author, Kalle Päätalo. It's a story about growing up and becoming a storyteller in hard times when their father was in the forced labour camp. He was a lunatic.

Nuoruuteni savotat

1988

Kaunis Kaarina poster
6.7

Kaarina, an orphan girl raised by Taneli, the innkeeper, notices that her friendship with her childhood friend Antti is turning into romance. Henrik, the patron, also has his eye on Kaarina.

Kaunis Kaarina

1955

Pekka ja Pätkä sammakkomiehinä poster
4.6

Pekka Puupää and Pätkä, who return to Helsinki from an unsuccessful variety show tour, are forced into refresher training, where they are trained as frogmen. During the diving exercises, the friends encounter the mermaid Helmi, whom they help into the bathtub at home, to Justiina's shock. The friends, who have become civilians, eventually end up on a plane bound for Suez, being cornered by UN soldiers.

Pekka ja Pätkä sammakkomiehinä

1957

Omat koirat purivat poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Omat koirat purivat

1974

The Unknown Soldier poster
7.2

It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment. The company is transferred to the front lines. The next morning the soldiers wake to the sound of guns – the war has begun.

The Unknown Soldier

1955

Here, Beneath the North Star poster
6.8

Täällä Pohjantähden alla is based on the book with the same title. It is a story of the little village. The movie starts in the 1890's and it ends to the Finnish civil war in 1918. Story concentrates around a tenant farmer family, although it gives us a good look at the society at whole. While the class struggle depends, people of the village are driven to bloody civil war.

Here, Beneath the North Star

1968

Syksyllä kaikki on toisin poster
5.7

A small Finnish town bank manager gets caught in the midst of local politics, with dire effects on his family and himself.

Syksyllä kaikki on toisin

1978

Mona ja palavan rakkauden aika poster
5.1

Growing up story of a high school girl that struggles with the emptiness of her life.

Mona ja palavan rakkauden aika

1983

Verta käsissämme poster
3.8

After returning home from being a prisoner of war Viktor gets a job from his friend Rolf with whom he had served. The men trust each other until Viktor meets Rolf’s wife Astrid.

Verta käsissämme

1958

Skin, Skin poster
6.0

A movie about summer, youth, the difficulty of love, and a camping trip to the countryside by four young people from Helsinki.

Skin, Skin

1966

Herra sotaministeri poster
7.0

Kalle, a shy and absent-minded civil servant at the comparison agency, unwittingly becomes Minister of War. He receives help in his new role from Maria, the daughter of Finance Minister Karpio. Problems in the performance of his duties lead Kalle to a court martial, and he resigns from his ministerial post to start a new life with his neighbor Leena.

Herra sotaministeri

1957

Ryysyrannan Jooseppi poster
5.0

Jooseppi Kenkkunen becomes a moonshiner in order to provide for his wife Kaisa-Reetta and his large family during the Prohibition era in Finland.

Ryysyrannan Jooseppi

1955

No artwork available
1.0

Based on Edvard Radzinsky's play, the story critically examines the difficulties of a Soviet film production.

Elokuva jalostavasta rakkaudesta

1967

Hän varasti elämän poster
6.5

A government official decides to steal a $25-million payroll and then fake his own death. However, in the process he is forced to kill an innocent bystander. He moves to a small rural village to start a new life with a new name and his new money, but finds that it's harder to escape his past than he thought it would be.

Hän varasti elämän

1962

Isaskar Keturin ihmeelliset seikkailut poster
6.5

The unlucky layabout Isarkar Keturi brings a criminal gang to heel with the help of his assistant Mikael. He frees Irma, the daughter of mining magnate Tömstet, from captivity and a forced marriage to Kurt. Irma achieves her dream of becoming a pop star, with Isaskar's help.

Isaskar Keturin ihmeelliset seikkailut

1960

Naiset, jotka minulle annoit poster
3.0

A triangular drama set in the world of theater.

Naiset, jotka minulle annoit

1962

Tähtisilmä poster
5.0

Poor orphan coffee delivery girl loves a poor painter who can't sell his artworks. Painter likes delivery girl, but has stuck in a friend zone. Delivery girl tries to help the painter to get forward in his career, but meanwhile a rich woman becomes too interested towards the painter.

Tähtisilmä

1955

Autuas eversti poster
8.0

Colonel Carolus von Haestman, presumed dead by his family, awakens from his deathbed and sets out to find his childhood sweetheart, Amelie. His children and grandchildren, in turn, set out to find the runaway lovers. In the end, the funeral turns into a wedding and honeymoon.

Autuas eversti

1958

Behind the camera

Eight Deadly Shots poster
7.7

Small-scale farmer Pasi shoots four policemen who have come to arrest him for raged drunkenness. Rest of the movie is a long flashback examining the events that finally leads to the tragic shooting. As time goes by, Pasi sinks gradually deeper and deeper into the poverty, gets into trouble with both police and tax officials while family arguments grow more and more serious. Based on a true story.

Eight Deadly Shots

1972

Eight Deadly Shots poster
7.7

Small-scale farmer Pasi shoots four policemen who have come to arrest him for raged drunkenness. Rest of the movie is a long flashback examining the events that finally leads to the tragic shooting. As time goes by, Pasi sinks gradually deeper and deeper into the poverty, gets into trouble with both police and tax officials while family arguments grow more and more serious. Based on a true story.

Eight Deadly Shots

1972

Eight Deadly Shots poster
7.7

Small-scale farmer Pasi shoots four policemen who have come to arrest him for raged drunkenness. Rest of the movie is a long flashback examining the events that finally leads to the tragic shooting. As time goes by, Pasi sinks gradually deeper and deeper into the poverty, gets into trouble with both police and tax officials while family arguments grow more and more serious. Based on a true story.

Eight Deadly Shots

1972

Girl of Finland poster
6.2

A theater group is training for the play Lapualaisooppera. We see these young people hanging out and talking about what goes on around them. Also sexual matters are involved there and this girl, Tenu, becomes pregnant to Hessu.

Girl of Finland

1967

Girl of Finland poster
6.2

A theater group is training for the play Lapualaisooppera. We see these young people hanging out and talking about what goes on around them. Also sexual matters are involved there and this girl, Tenu, becomes pregnant to Hessu.

Girl of Finland

1967

Commando Assault poster
6.1

Lieutenant Takala meets his fellow partisans of 20th division many year after the war. With flashbacks we see the events of summer 1944.

Commando Assault

1963

Commando Assault poster
6.1

Lieutenant Takala meets his fellow partisans of 20th division many year after the war. With flashbacks we see the events of summer 1944.

Commando Assault

1963

17. kesä poster
NR

A fictional tale of a mother and a 17-year-old boy moving from countryside to city and the start of a new life in the middle of a concrete jungle.

17. kesä

1976

Gotta Run! poster
6.3

Juuso, Late, and Pyry return from military service to their small village in the Finnish countryside. Finding work is difficult there, so Juuso decides to take a job on a Norwegian oil drilling platform. Late could start working on his family's chicken farm but wants to break free from his father who has a new wife. Looking for work in Gothenburg, Sweden, he only runs into more problems and is deported back to Finland. Pyry would like to take over his late father's farm but family quarrels over the estate make him quit his agricultural studies and, together with drifter Late, take a job in a steel mill in southern Finland.

Gotta Run!

1982

Gotta Run! poster
6.3

Juuso, Late, and Pyry return from military service to their small village in the Finnish countryside. Finding work is difficult there, so Juuso decides to take a job on a Norwegian oil drilling platform. Late could start working on his family's chicken farm but wants to break free from his father who has a new wife. Looking for work in Gothenburg, Sweden, he only runs into more problems and is deported back to Finland. Pyry would like to take over his late father's farm but family quarrels over the estate make him quit his agricultural studies and, together with drifter Late, take a job in a steel mill in southern Finland.

Gotta Run!

1982

Gotta Run! poster
6.3

Juuso, Late, and Pyry return from military service to their small village in the Finnish countryside. Finding work is difficult there, so Juuso decides to take a job on a Norwegian oil drilling platform. Late could start working on his family's chicken farm but wants to break free from his father who has a new wife. Looking for work in Gothenburg, Sweden, he only runs into more problems and is deported back to Finland. Pyry would like to take over his late father's farm but family quarrels over the estate make him quit his agricultural studies and, together with drifter Late, take a job in a steel mill in southern Finland.

Gotta Run!

1982

The Boys poster
6.9

When Continuation War started in Summer 1941, German soldiers arrived to Oulu. With their charm they conquered women and town boys. Finnish boys communicated with them on many levels: had trades, worked as interpreters, rotated business, spied on German love adventures and fought with each other about the favor of soldiers. In autumn 1944, the war was ending. Germans left Oulu by leaving behind fragile relationships, bastard kids and unfinished businesses. The most shocking of all was the faith of young Jake...

The Boys

1962

The Boys poster
6.9

When Continuation War started in Summer 1941, German soldiers arrived to Oulu. With their charm they conquered women and town boys. Finnish boys communicated with them on many levels: had trades, worked as interpreters, rotated business, spied on German love adventures and fought with each other about the favor of soldiers. In autumn 1944, the war was ending. Germans left Oulu by leaving behind fragile relationships, bastard kids and unfinished businesses. The most shocking of all was the faith of young Jake...

The Boys

1962

Kyläkauppa poster
NR

A dramatized documentary about the importance of a village shop to the village community.

Kyläkauppa

1979

Pulakapina poster
7.0

Based on a true story about the so called 1932 Horse Rebellion in Nivala, Finland. The decision to put down a sick horse owned by a poor farmer rises the farmers in open rebellion against the authorities.

Pulakapina

1977

Pulakapina poster
7.0

Based on a true story about the so called 1932 Horse Rebellion in Nivala, Finland. The decision to put down a sick horse owned by a poor farmer rises the farmers in open rebellion against the authorities.

Pulakapina

1977

Pulakapina poster
7.0

Based on a true story about the so called 1932 Horse Rebellion in Nivala, Finland. The decision to put down a sick horse owned by a poor farmer rises the farmers in open rebellion against the authorities.

Pulakapina

1977

Elämän vonkamies poster
7.1

Portrait of rural life in 1920s Northern Finland. The film follows the early life of a boy called Kalle and his family in the shores of river Iijoki.

Elämän vonkamies

1986

Elämän vonkamies poster
7.1

Portrait of rural life in 1920s Northern Finland. The film follows the early life of a boy called Kalle and his family in the shores of river Iijoki.

Elämän vonkamies

1986

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta poster
5.6

Olavi Koskela, a ladies' man, joins the loggers. As a log driver, Olavi travels from place to place, seducing one girl after another and then abandoning them. Only Kyllikki, the daughter of a wealthy family, is able to resist his advances and incites him to challenge another log driver to a race down the rapids. Through Kyllikki, Olavi is forced to face the consequences of his actions and reflect on the meaninglessness of his life.

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta

1971

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta poster
5.6

Olavi Koskela, a ladies' man, joins the loggers. As a log driver, Olavi travels from place to place, seducing one girl after another and then abandoning them. Only Kyllikki, the daughter of a wealthy family, is able to resist his advances and incites him to challenge another log driver to a race down the rapids. Through Kyllikki, Olavi is forced to face the consequences of his actions and reflect on the meaninglessness of his life.

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta

1971

Nuoruuteni savotat poster
7.0

Lumberjacking is a second part of saga about young author, Kalle Päätalo. It's a story about growing up and becoming a storyteller in hard times when their father was in the forced labour camp. He was a lunatic.

Nuoruuteni savotat

1988

Nuoruuteni savotat poster
7.0

Lumberjacking is a second part of saga about young author, Kalle Päätalo. It's a story about growing up and becoming a storyteller in hard times when their father was in the forced labour camp. He was a lunatic.

Nuoruuteni savotat

1988

Omat koirat purivat poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Omat koirat purivat

1974