November Movie Pick: 'Sisu'

I think you can stream it right now on Netflix or Prime—I don't remember. I watched it at the beginning of the month, which qualifies it as a November pick, but still, this movie keeps me thinking, reminding me how cool it was to experience it. I will definitely see it again. For crying out loud, I watched Dead Snow for the third time (which is another great European movie, by the way), and at some point, I’ll play Sisu again. Both are bold European takes on the gold rush and European history. Sisu also reminded me of Mad Max: Fury Road, but without Furiosa (who failed to deliver at the box office, although I really enjoyed the movie).

Is Tom Hardy actually the driving force? Venom 3 is proving something here—a movie I don’t need to see in cinemas is actually doing pretty well. Did the dismissal of Charlize Theron make Fury Road the last entry in the series?

Anyway, I heard about Sisu a while ago from the YouTuber Chris Stuckmann, who reviewed the movie. I pinned it as something I wanted to see, and he was right. The movie is very good. The director, Jalmari Helander (who I’d never heard of before), will probably get a Marvel project soon. That’s what happens with directors like this, right? They make something special, get on the radar, and Marvel either catapults their career into the skies or the garbage can. I love Marvel—I’m very much back on the Marvel train after Agatha All Along.

This guy proves that he knows his stuff. With just a $6 million budget, he was able to tell an incredibly compact, action-packed story with extraordinary cinematography. Filmed in Lapland, the movie looks much better than anything Netflix is trying to produce for $250 million or more, and it features actors who should definitely be on the mainstream radar after their performances here. Even the disposable cast made an impression and added to the story with their distinctive features. When you grow up with American movies and culture, European cinema feel like a breath of fresh air.

Sometimes I feel like the movie budgets reported by Hollywood studios are some kind of trick. How can a movie that costs $6 million look better and tell a much better story than most of the films featuring The Rock, John Cena, or Batista? I mean, I’m onto these guys—when I see them cast in a role, I avoid the project immediately. Where is all that money going? $250 million for VFX?

The goal of moviemaking is to throw something at the wall and hope it sticks—then milk it for centuries. It’s incredible how projects last so long and still provide value and money to the studios and the people involved, like a web of cash cows that occasionally pump new funds into the bank. Sisu was able to break even and cover its budget at the box office, and from now on, whatever milk comes out of those cows is pure gravy. This movie deserves it. It went big so many times—I was pleasantly surprised throughout the story. 

I guess what’s missing from these big Hollywood action movies is a good story. In Sisu, we resonate immediately with the lonely wolf trying to survive, fighting for his peace of mind and safety like a wild animal, killing Nazis left and right. While there is nothing relatable in rich agents fighting tech companies and killing AI robots anymore. Are we hungry for our perspective, not our fantasies?

I started watching some VHS (the found footage) horror movies, but after the first two, I felt like it was a complete waste of time (though I’ll eventually dive deeper, as well as into the REC series). But Sisu never felt like a waste. You know what? I’m actually excited to play it again. 

Iliya Badev