Vares – Private Eye

Reijo Mäki is Finland’s most popular writer of detective novels, and Jussi Vares – private eye hero of these widely-read stories – is a man for whom life is never simple.

On the trail of a woman, Vares finds himself caught up with underworld characters who are on the trail of hidden millions. The resulting tangle of deceit, sex and intrigue climaxes in explosive action, set against a backdrop of unending rain.

One liner: “That summer, it rained every day. And it was easy enough to dig graves for those who made mistakes.”

SYNOPSIS

During a military reserve training exercise, Jussi Vares (Juha Veijonen) is taken ‘prisoner’ by beautiful female sergeant, Eeva Sunila (Laura Malmivaara). At the party held to mark the end of the exercise Vares finds himself strongly attracted by his ‘captor’, but what seems to be promising situation proves a let down: Eeva, who is a teacher in civilian life, tells him that she is about to get married. And Vares is not permitted to pat her down…

After a fast-paced series of incidents, Eeva makes headlines all over the country while the chase takes Vares across southern Finland, and through endless drenching rain.

The millions, skimmed from Russian Mafia operations, have a lot of takers. And human life is not worth much in comparison.

Eeva Sunila discovers that she´s the fall guy in a game whose main players include her new husband Antero Kraft (Jorma Tommila), traitorous man-eater Ifigenia Multanen (Minna Turunen), ruthless business-shark Karl E. Miesmann (Jari Halonen), crooked cop Mikko Koitere (Samuli Edelmann) and professional hitmen Jari “Red-Eye” Munck (Pekka Valkeejärvi) and Tetsuo Sinkkonen (Kari Hietalahti).
Betrayal, lust and cruelty spiral into an inevitably violent conclusion as the game plays itself out in the relentless rain. When his back is against the wall, Vares is a man of action, driven by a strange sense of chivalry. This weighs more in the scales than his own life.

The toughest movie thriller ever made in Finland brings Reijo Mäki´s down-to-earth hero to the screen – a man with a liking for liquor and an eye for a beautiful woman. In the merciless duel which follows the rain washes away the blood – and death is never far.

SELECTED CAST
Juha Veijonen, Laura Malmivaara, Samuli Edelmann, Jari Halonen, Minna Turunen, Pekka Valkeejärvi, Kari Hietalahti, Jorma Tommila, Markku Peltola, Jasper Pääkkönen, Santeri Kinnunen, Tuula Nyman, Sulevi Peltola, Oiva Lohtander, Svante Martin.