Juhani Niemelä

Acting

Juhani Niemelä

Born 1941-06-17 · Iitti, Finland

Acting credits

The Man Without a Past poster
7.4

Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.

The Man Without a Past

2002

Bad Family poster
6.0

The story of an overly protective and controlling father who suspects incest is taking place between his own son and daughter. These growing suspicions and concerns cause the father to become delusional and unrelenting in his quest to end the love affair between his children.

Bad Family

2010

The Other Side of Hope poster
7.0

A restaurateur befriends a Syrian refugee who has recently arrived in Finland.

The Other Side of Hope

2017

Ladies of Steel poster
5.2

Inkeri, 75, has hit her husband on the head with a solid iron frying pan and is planning to bury him in their garden. Before facing the rest of her life in prison, there may yet be a moment left to really live. Inkeri makes her sisters Sylvi and Raili join her on a trip to the Koli National Park. Will Inkeri find in her that free young woman who desired a feminist revolution in the 70s?

Ladies of Steel

2020

Lights in the Dusk poster
6.8

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.

Lights in the Dusk

2006

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

Routasydän poster
6.8

In this gloomy scenario about Finland's upcoming membership in the European Union, the country has become a poor peripheral area plagued by energy shortages and civil wars. Escaping the city to his summer cottage with his children and a lady next door, a divorced university teacher is forced to pick up a young delirious woman from the roadside. He soon falls in love with her, only to find out she is a sought-after deserter from a violent guerilla army.

Routasydän

1993

Loma poster
5.8

After a mixup at the check-in, Aimo Niemi boards a charter plane bound for the sunny island of Rhodes, Greece, instead of the Innsbruck Winter Olympics he's packed for. It's the early days of package tourism, and he is too shy and clueless to really sort out any of his problems — a suitcase filled with women's clothes, a flirtatious female roommate, and no money to buy food since he was prepared for full room & board in Austria.

Loma

1976

Niskavuoren Heta poster
NR

The second part of Hella Wuolijoki's family saga. Heta Niskavuori marries Akusti, a farmhand. Together, they build a magnificent house from a croft, and Akusti forges a distinguished career in society. To Heta, however, he will always be a farmhand.

Niskavuoren Heta

1987

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

Umur poster
6.0

Umur tells a love story strongly connected to the nature of Lapland, in which Poika, a young border guard played with sensitivity by Heikki Rantanen, falls passionately in love with the mysterious Lapland beauty Umuri.

Umur

2002

Palava rakkaus poster
9.0

A story of the lives of Aino and Oskar Kallas.

Palava rakkaus

1997

Joulukuusivarkaat poster
7.2

The story of Veikko, whose values are thrown into crisis in a profit-driven society. However, Veikko does not give up. His sense of justice is put to the test, and his integrity is weighed in the balance.

Joulukuusivarkaat

2009

Huomenna poster
5.5

The story of an unspecified country ravaged by civil war, with its rebels and spies.

Huomenna

1986

Backwood Philosopher poster
5.8

Self-taught philosopher Konsta Pylkkänen guides a group of researchers through Finland's Kainuu wilderness in the hopes of having a "sinistä ajatusta", idea out of the blue. While firing upon a hybrid of the hazel grouse and the western capercaillie, kinds of birds, he indeed makes a scientific discovery.

Backwood Philosopher

2009

Iron Horsemen poster
6.5

Bad Trip, a biker who has been freshly inducted into a gang, flees from them after stealing one of their bikes.

Iron Horsemen

1995

The Prodigal Son poster
5.5

Esa is a small time crook who has been precisely released from prison. He starts to make money by mugging people. One day psychiatrist Lindström rings Esa's doorbell. He has a very strange request: he wants Esa to maltreat him. Esa accepts this request, but he is not aware of Lindström's bad intentions.

The Prodigal Son

1992

The Singer poster
3.3

The Singer is a film about the all-time favourite singer in Finland, Olavi Virta. A man who rose from poverty all the way to the top and became an artist who was dearly loved by the Finnish people. A man who loved beautiful women and was loved by beautiful women. A man who enjoyed speed, American cars, applause and alcohol and who finally lost everything but his unique voice.

The Singer

2018

Niskavuoren nuori emäntä poster
NR

The first part of Hella Wuolijoki's family saga. Loviisa comes to Niskavuori as Juhani's young wife. She has to fight for her right to the house and her husband, but finds her own way of life and takes her place as the mistress of the house. Based on Hella Wuolijoki's play of the same name from 1940.

Niskavuoren nuori emäntä

1987

Under the North Star poster
6.4

Based on the novel by Väinö Linna, the story takes place during the time of the Finnish Civil War.

Under the North Star

2009

The Clan: Tale of the Frogs poster
6.7

Young Alex Sammakko has seen his brothers defy the law in a series of deeds that first land them in jail, and then, after they escape and return to their rural home, land them back in the lap of their locally notorious family. Alex wants nothing to do with them. He is in love with Mirja, whose family is not that different from the Sammakko's, but who shares Alex's viewpoints and feelings. Not helping matters is a police department convinced that all Sammakkos are bad, and the family itself, pressuring Alex to follow in their murky footsteps.

The Clan: Tale of the Frogs

1984

Falling Angels poster
5.8

The daughter of two famous writers, Helena upholds her late father's reputation, reciting his poems on various occasions and cherishing the memory of the legend. Relations with her mother have deteriorated since she moved to Sweden. Helena blames her mother for abandoning her father. Helena and her mother meet again as Helena's mental health deteriorates and in order to cope, she must face reality through her mother's memoirs. Helena becomes intensely involved in the story and relives it by imagining herself in her mother's place.

Falling Angels

2008

Vaiennut kylä poster
4.2

A criminal investigator arrives to investigate the murder of Annikki Niemi in a village whose residents remain silent about the killing. Local boss Onni Pukari and his shady associates try to prevent the investigator from finding the murderer.

Vaiennut kylä

1997

Tilinteko poster
6.3

Two men, Nieminen and Varjola, commit a mail van robbery. Varjola betrays his friend: shoots him and takes the loot. Nieminen is arrested, but he refuses to reveal his accomplice's name. On his first leave on prison Nieminen finds Varjola in a small town, where he has became the mayor. Varjola, of course, is shocked to see his old friend again.

Tilinteko

1987