Matti Pellonpää

Acting

Matti Pellonpää

Born 1951-03-28 · Helsinki, Finland

Matti Pellonpää (March 28, 1951 in Helsinki – July 13, 1995 in Vaasa) was an award-winning Finnish actor and a musician. He rose to international fame with his roles in both Aki Kaurismäki's and Mika Kaurismäki's films; particularly being a regular in Aki's films, appearing in 18 of them. He started his career in 1962 as a radio actor at the Finnish state-owned broadcasting company YLE. He performed as an actor during the 70s in many amateur theatres, at the same time that he studied at the Finnish Theatre Academy, where he completed his studies in the year 1977. He was nominated Best Actor by European Film Academy for his role as Rodolfo in La Vie de Boheme and won the Felix at the European Film Awards in 1992. He also starred in Jim Jarmusch's 1991 film Night on Earth. Description above from the Wikipedia article Matti Pellonpää, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Night on Earth poster
7.5

A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

Night on Earth

1991

Marked poster
5.1

Irma Auer (Satu Silvo) is a former call-girl, trying to distance herself from the past. In a séance she is told to be 'marked for death', and is afterward threatened by her former pimp and abandoned by her groom, as he learns about her past. Irma attempts to commit suicide, and resurrects at the city morgue after being pronounced dead. After the incident, she wanders out direction-less, being pursued by the doctor who treated her and also a strange, tall man.

Marked

1984

Ariel poster
7.1

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

Ariel

1988

The Worthless poster
6.4

Manne, Harri, and Ville Alfa are rootless twenty-somethings in search of purpose for their banal lives. After Manne steals a priceless painting from a group of petty criminals, Manne and Harri flee from the gangsters across Finland, while Ville goes to Paris. On the road they meet Veera, an old girlfriend of Harri's, and try to avoid the gangsters in pursuit.

The Worthless

1982

Shadows in Paradise poster
7.3

Nikander, a rubbish collector and would-be entrepreneur, finds his plans for success dashed when his business associate dies. One evening, he meets Ilona, a down-on-her-luck cashier, in a local supermarket. Falteringly, a bond begins to develop between them.

Shadows in Paradise

1986

La Vie de Bohème poster
7.5

Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.

La Vie de Bohème

1992

Calamari Union poster
7.0

A group of men all called Frank—except for one named Pekka—have had enough of life in their working-class neighborhood, so they set off for a better existence in the magical seaside district of Eira. But the way is long, and the group face many hurdles including stray dogs and defunct streetlights.

Calamari Union

1985

Leningrad Cowboys Go America poster
6.9

The Leningrad Cowboys, a group of Siberian musicians, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band.

Leningrad Cowboys Go America

1989

Cha Cha Cha poster
7.0

A lawyer pays a visit to Matti Ojanperä, a bum living under a bridge in the Helsinki harbour, to inform him that he is about to inherit an American aunt of his. The sum 1,000,000 Fmk would be his, if only he meets the qualifications set by his aunt. He must show that he is capable of 'living properly' and possessing a 'respectable occupation and a family he can support'. Otherwise the money would go to a foundation the chairman of which the lawyer himself happens to be!

Cha Cha Cha

1989

Päivä ennen poster
4.0

No synopsis available yet.

Päivä ennen

1978

Shit Happens poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Shit Happens

1992

White Lies poster
3.6

The relationship between a priest's wife and the renovator crackles with passion. While the rectory terrace is being restored, there is a triangular drama at the fore: a priest, a priest’s wife and a renovator.

White Lies

1994

Kesän maku poster
3.5

Liisa, a young nurse returns to a remote island where she has spent the summer leaves in her youth. She soon gets to know some of the regular residents on the island, Pekka and Paula. During the summer party the underlying tensions mount.

Kesän maku

1975

Finnish Frustrations poster
NR

Dances are ending. Last chance for women and men to find someone.

Finnish Frustrations

1969

Sutki poster
2.0

Sutki travels around Finland selling his wife's knitted mittens at market stalls. Business is slow, and Sutki's boisterous lifestyle doesn't help matters. Sutki is an enterprising salesman. In addition to mittens, he even manages to sell lottery tickets for the disabled. However, as his name suggests, Sutki gets himself into all kinds of trouble, both possible and impossible.

Sutki

1993

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

Akseli and Elina poster
6.6

A former Red Rebellion leader returns home after being imprisoned for his participation in the Finnish Civil War, but soon finds out that wartime mindsets still linger in the heads of people.

Akseli and Elina

1970

Paper Star poster
4.7

Anna Kelanen is an ex-model, who just has been released from prison. She thinks back on her life, when she was a rather successful model, and on the things that went wrong.

Paper Star

1989

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Sirpaleita

1995

Dolly and Her Lover poster
4.9

Detective Karisto releases Auno 'Räpsy' Pirilä from prison, who in turn has to calve his childhood friend Börje from criminal activities. Alcoholic Dolly takes Räpsy to live in Kallio, Helsinki, and hopes to move to Paris with her in the spring.

Dolly and Her Lover

1990

Dirty Hands poster
5.5

A political drama set in the fictional country of Illyria between 1943 and 1945, the story is about the assassination of a leading politician. The country, an ally of Nazi Germany, is on the verge of being annexed to the Eastern Bloc. Kaurismäki's TV adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's play Les Mains Sales (Dirty Hands) tells the story of Hugo (Matti Pellonpää) who has just been released from prison. Before going to prison, he has worked as a journalist at his party's newspaper. This timid journalist, who uses the pseudonym Raskolnikov, wants to advance in his career and gets his chance when Hoederer (Sulevi Peltola), the leader of the party, has to be eliminated.

Dirty Hands

2015

Zombie and the Ghost Train poster
6.7

Antti "Zombie" Autiomaa does two things well: play the bass guitar and drink. After several months' sleeping on the streets of Istanbul, he returns to Helsinki where he's called into the army but discharged on mental health grounds after adding turpentine to the officers' soup. Zombie lives bleary-eyed in an apartment off his parents' house where his lonely, unemployed father suffers from heart disease. His girl-friend Marjo has taken up with a hairdresser but comes back to Zombie. His friend Harri hires him as a roadie for his band "Harry and the Mulefukkers" then gives him a chance as a bass player. He has his girl and he has a gig, but can Zombie put the bottle down?

Zombie and the Ghost Train

1991

Viimeinen savotta poster
5.5

Follows the life of a pauper child Vike Nilonpoika from the early 1900's to the 1960s. During this time he works as a lumberjack in Lapland after running away from the despotic master. He soon becomes familiar with hookers, card hustlers and alcohol.

Viimeinen savotta

1977

Kumma juttu poster
9.0

A group of kids goes on an adventure to help their scientist friend.

Kumma juttu

1989