The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki

MOVIE #1,930 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 08.23.24 This is a random one to close out the 8-film Friday Movie Dump (before I take a week off and gear up for September -> a legendary 100-film Spooky Month). I was searching for my next Director Focus Fill-In candidate (where I randomly pick a director who I’ve reviewed once or twice and complete their filmography), and stumbled upon Finland’s own Juho Kuosmanen, who directed the excellent 2021 film Compartment No. 6. So I had high hopes for this black-and-white period biopic. Sadly, it failed to deliver. You get all that this film has to offer in the first fifteen minutes: a boxer is more concerned with ‘falling in love’ than training for the big fight. It’s pretty boring! Sure, it’s beautiful to look at and the performances are good but I just couldn’t latch on to this one.

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The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (Finnish: Hymyilevä mies, lit. 'Smiling man') is a 2016 biographical drama film directed by Juho Kuosmanen and written by Mikko Myllylahti and Kuosmanen. An international co-production between Finland, Sweden, and Germany, the film stars Jarkko Lahti, Oona Airola, and Eero Milonoff. It tells the true story of Olli Mäki, the famous Finnish boxer who had a shot at the 1962 World Featherweight title. It was released on May 19, 2016.