The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli MäkiMovies like The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
- Key Features:
- Boxing, Romance, Biopic, Love triangle, Small town, 1960s, Finland, World championship, Sacrifice, Underdog, Based on a true story
- Tone:
- humorous, earnest, restrained
- Target Audience:
- Film festival enthusiasts, International cinema fans, Romance lovers, Sports movie fans
- Emotional Arc:
- Joy → Conflict → Resolution
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki

Summer 1962 and Olli Mäki has a shot at the world championship title in featherweight boxing. From the Finnish countryside to the bright lights of Helsinki, everything has been prepared for his fame and fortune. All Olli has to do is lose weight and concentrate. But there is a problem – he has fallen in love with Raija.
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
Best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö support each other unconditionally. They want to live adventurous lives, loaded with experiences and passion. Emma on the contrary has given her whole life to figure skating. Nothing gets between her and success. But when the girls meet, life opens whole new paths, and they all rocket in new directions. While Mimmi and Emma experience the earth moving effects of first love, Rönkkö is on a quest to find pleasure. Three Fridays is all it takes to turn their worlds upside down.

Anni, a daughter of a wealthy family and used to secure life, falls in love with Veikko, a war invalid of the Continuation War. Anni leaves her past behind her and starts leading the life of a pioneer, in the wild forests of northern Karelia, in a settlement farm. After a rosy start, the fate crushes Anni’s dreams and her love for Veikko is put to a test.

Artem Kolchin was one of many, but he wanted glory. And he has chosen the way: he became the boxer. Now Artem the applicant for a champion title, fighter, known worldwide as Great White Hope. But the main fight in his life has not gone how he expected...

Thousands of years ago in ancient China, a man fights against his destiny. He wants another chance to be reunited with his loved one and he gets that chance, in a far away place and a far away time, in modern Finland.

Not to be confused with any of the sequels to Sylvester Stallone's classic Oscar-winning Rocky, this short film from Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki is actually meant as a parody of the late Cold War-era Rocky IV, which saw Stallone's character taking on a juiced-up Russian fighter played by Dolph Lundgren. In this 1986 send-up, Rock'y, played by Silu Seppala, goes head to head with Soviet Igor (Sakari Kuosmanen) and loses.

Isi and Ossi couldn't be any more different: She's a billionaire's daughter from Heidelberg, he's a struggling boxer from the nearby town of Mannheim. But when Isi meets Ossi, the two quickly realize that they can take advantage of one another: She dates the broke boxer to provoke her parents and get them to fund a long-desired chef training in New York. He tries to rip off the rich daughter to finance his first professional boxing match. Their plans soon develop into emotional chaos that challenges everything the two believe to know about money, career and love.

Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.

September of 1944, a few days before Finland went out of the Second World War. A chained to a rock Finnish sniper-kamikadze Veikko managed to set himself free. Ivan, a captain of the Soviet Army, arrested by the Front Secret Police 'Smersh', has a narrow escape. They are soldiers of the two enemy armies. A Lapp woman Anni gives a shelter to both of them at her farm. For Anni they are not enemies, but just men.

Makunouchi Ippo is the new Featherweight champion of Japan and is now ready for his first title defense. His opponent, the former Jr. Featherweight champion and a medical student, Sanada Kazuki. In addition to this feud, Sanada is being coached by Kamogawa's former rival, Hama Dankichi. What makes things worse is that Sanada works at the same hospital where Kumi is a nurse at and everybody at the hospital wants Sanada to win. Not only does Ippo have to defend his title, he has to reclaim his love.

Klitschko tells the captivating story of the boxing worlds most famous brothers: Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. From the socialist drill of their childhood in the Ukraine, and their first successes as amateurs, to their move to Germany and subsequent rise as international stars on the verge of holding the championship titles of all five boxing federations (Wladimir secured this with his unanimous World Boxing Association win against David Haye on July 2nd, 2011). Along the way they experience defeats and setbacks, low points and triumphant comebacks as well as conflicts with each other. Exciting conversations with companions and opponents, including the very first with the Klitschkos parents, give insight into their personal lives, plus never-before-seen footage of the draining preparations for a fight, and the spectacular boxing matches. Director Sebastian Dehnhardt composes an intimate and fascinating portrait of two exceptional athletes who are, before all else, brothers.

A young boxer, Izzy Daniels, trains to follow in his father's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove. But when his friend, Mary asks him to substitute for a team member in a Double Dutch tournament, the young man discovers a hidden passion for jump roping, all while finding love with Mary and navigating conflict with himself and his father about boxing.

Set shortly after the end of World War II, a philosophical boxing drama of two fighters from opposite worlds (USA and Japan) who are pulled together for a questionable fight arranged by their unscrupulous managers and the Yakuza.

Jaakko and Sirpa have never met face to face, but talk on the phone every day. When Jaakko hears news about Sirpa's declining health, he decides to go meet her in another city. It's not the easiest decision, because he's blind and paralyzed from the chest down - and he has to make the journey alone. To get there, Jaakko must rely on the help of five strangers. What could go wrong?

For a successful Road Patrol Service officer time to start a family, but he lives with his mother. When Petia decides to propose Olya marriage, his official car crashes into drunken pop star.

Victor aka Hammer is an MMA champion with the world title fight ahead. After running into the mobster Shark Hammer gets injured but is still determined to win. Victor doesn't know Shark will stick at nothing to make Victor lose.

Approaching forty, Ferro is unsatisfied with his life as a construction worker and part-time boxing instructor in Los Angeles, CA. After a successful bout with a young pro boxer, Ferro decides to don the gloves one last time. The movie recounts his unlikely quest for Olympic gold.

It is 1595. Brutal wars have just ended in an uneasy peace between Protestant Sweden and Orthodox Russia. We focus on the spiritual defeats of two conquered Finnish brothers, one a hardened near-psychopathic war hero, the other a gentle scientist in an age with no use for such men. They find themselves in the swampy interior, demarcating the new border with a unit of sadistic Russians.

Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.

One morning just before Christmas, Leena receives a phone call from a hospital in her childhood hometown telling her that her mother is dying. This news takes her on a journey to face her mother for the first time in her adult life. Leena has fought all her life to let go of her grief over her lost and dark childhood. She is now forced to deal with her past to be able to move on.

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.

Franky and Krimo dream of leaving the grey grime of their neighborhood behind and of traveling to the famous and diabolical Thai beach resort of Pattaya. To get there cheaply, the two friends have the crazy idea of registering, unbeknownst to him, the local little person for the Thai Dwarf Boxing World Championship. But what was supposed to be a dream vacation will transform into the most insane and dangerous adventure of their lives.

Based on the real life story of Parinya Charoenphol, a Muaythai boxer who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman.

Steve Landry, an aging boxer with more losses than wins, accepts to become a sparring partner for an emerging champion in a last-ditch attempt to stay relevant.

A grumpy boxing coach takes on a young, rebellious woman under his wings and starts training her for the world championship. But their biggest battle has to be fought outside the ring.

A young boxer is taken under the wing of a mob boss after his mother dies and his father is run out of town for being an abusive alcoholic.

Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!

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.

Ari, a paramedic, is a chronic womanizer; he makes it a point of pride to never sleep with the same woman twice, and his nights are a long series of brazen one-night stands. But when Ari meets Tiina, something unexpected happens – he falls in love.

One night in Tokyo, Leo, a young boxer, meets his first love, Monica, an imprisoned sex worker. Caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, they find themselves pursued by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin.

Harry Haft is a boxer who fought fellow prisoners in the concentration camps to survive. Haunted by the memories and his guilt, he attempts to use high-profile fights against boxing legends like Rocky Marciano as a way to find his first love again.

A chronicle of the life of Indian boxer 'Mary Kom' who went through several hardships before audaciously accomplishing her ultimate dream.

Slacker Ichiko gets into a fight with her younger sister and begins to live on her own, working the late shift at a 100 yen shop. On her way home, she passes a gym and meets boxer Kano who trains there in silence...

Şaban, who works as a clerk in a factory, is madly in love with Bahar, who works as a secretary in the same factory and attends university thanks to the financial support of the famous oil tycoon Adnan Bıçakçı. However, Bahar has her eye on the famous athlete Erkan. After Adnan Bıçakçı reveals that Bahar is his granddaughter, she is kidnapped by gangsters. However, the only person who tries to rescue her is not her boyfriend Erkan, but Orta Direk Şaban.

Bomber is an unemployed boat captain. One day he meets Jerry, a manager of boxers who are struck by the force of his fists. That is when they see the chance to win big money.

It is 1940. The first transport of prisoners arrives at the newly created concentration camp Auschwitz. One of them is Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski, pre-war boxing champion of Warsaw. The camp officers force him to fight in the ring for his and other prisoners’ lives. However, his every win strengthens the hope that Nazis are not invincible. Auschwitz officers notice the growing resistance. The confrontation with the authorities of the camp becomes inevitable.

Kimura finally has his championship match. It takes place at the annual champion carnival. But now he must face the intense champion, Mashiba for the Junior Lightweight championship.

The inspirational story of World Champion Boxer Vinny Pazienza, who after a near fatal car crash, which left him not knowing if he'd ever walk again, made one of sports most incredible comebacks.

A hearing-impaired woman with dreams of becoming a professional boxer due to the pandemic is threatened closure of her boxing club and the illness of its ageing president, who has been her biggest supporter, push her to the limit.

Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.

Two teen track stars discover first love as they train for the biggest relay race of their young lives.

The story of Dylan Pettersson, a 23-year-old girl from a small island in the Swedish archipelago with big dancing aspirations.

The Story of longtime UFC Featherweight champion and the struggles facing him on the road to the top.

The story of Mike Tyson. From his early days as a 12 year old amateur with a powerful punch, to the undisputed title of "Heavyweight Champion of the World", and ultimately to his conviction for rape. The story of his turbulent life moves quickly, never focusing for long on anything in particular.

Jobless, besieged by creditors, and abandoned by his wife, the once silver medalist Tae-shik has sunk to street hustling, becoming a human punching bag. Meanwhile, young Sang-hwan's delinquent ways land him behind bars. Both men look to boxing to turn around lives gone astray, aiming for the amateur title, ultimately pitting them against each other, but more importantly, against themselves.

Mavka, a Soul of the Forest, faces an impossible choice between love and her duty as Guardian of the Heart of the Forest when she falls for a human, a talented young musician named Lukas.

Helsinki, 1945. The end of the war brings a new sense of artistic and social freedom for painter Tove Jansson. While focusing her artistic dreams on painting, the enchanting tales of the ‘Moomin’ creatures she told to scared children in bomb shelters, rapidly take on a life of their own, bringing international fame.

Arturo Meraviglia is a struggling impresario who has to take care of Gioele and Rebecca, two children "inherited" by an old uncle. When he realizes that little Gioele has superpowers, his luck changes.

A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.

A former boxer turned parking lot attendant finds hope in the love of the blind telemarketer who walks into his booth one day.

When milkman Jimmy Connelly accidentally puts Britain's contender for the World title out of action, he is propelled from amateur boxer to the world stage and announced as the replacement contender for the championship fight.

A boy, obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle in 1959 Sweden.

A slacker switches up his cleaning job by pretending to be a mental coach's assistant and consults an injured ice skater who has lost her confidence.

Iranian female judokas Leila and her coach Maryam, travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or she will be branded a traitor of the state. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the Iranian regime as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on, for the gold.

Margherita is a 14 year old living in Milano, who shares everything with her friends. They discuss clothes, music, school and that first kiss. A delightful coming-of-age film in which the here and now is all that really matters. Where every little thing is so very important and where feelings sometimes bubble over. In your teens, there’s no room for anything but friendship and love.

After a fictitious marriage with a Russian emigrant, Cellisten Louka, a Czech man, must suddenly take responsibility for her son. However, it’s not long before the communication barrier is broken between the two new family members.

This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own.

Momo has one dream buried for years: become a petanque champion. When an international tournament is announced, he drops his ordinary life to win the first prize and fulfill his dreams.

Stanley Kubrick’s debut documentary, following Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier on April 17, 1950—the day of his bout with Bobby James. The film traces Cartier’s quiet morning rituals, training, and anxious hours before the match, culminating in his swift victory that night in Newark. Opening with a brief history of boxing, Kubrick’s tightly crafted short captures the discipline, isolation, and tension behind a fighter’s daily routine.

From childhood to fatherhood, Piero learns things the hard way while growing up in a working-class neighborhood of Livorno.

A celebrity journalist and renowned womanizer starts to rethink his life choices after he falls for a mysterious model who leads a double life.

When the champ's promoter, Rev. Sultan, decides something new is needed to boost the marketability of the boxing matches, he searches and finds the only man to ever beat the champ. The problem is that he isn't a boxer anymore and he's white. However, once Rev. Sultan convinces him to fight, he goes into heavy training while the confident champ takes it easy and falls out of shape.

Boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime.

They knew each other long ago: a man and a woman whose dazzling and unexpected romance captured in the now-iconic film revolutionized our understanding of love. Today, the former race car driver seems lost in the pathways of his memory. In order to help him, his son seeks out the woman his father wasn’t able to cherish but whom he constantly revisits in his thoughts and dreams. Anne reunites with Jean-Louis and their story picks up where they left it…

Amalie is the girl who has everything, good looks, money, a boyfriend and a big talent of dancing. One day, her world falls apart and she moves from everything she knows. Then enter Mikael. He is dancing in the streets and Amalie joins him in dancing on the streets, dancing Battles.

Andres (Jean Pierre Agostini) it's a fan of Los Leones del Caracas one of the principal baseball teams of Venezuela. Julissa (Juliette Pardau) it's a fan of Los Navegantes del Magallanes, the rival team. One day Andres gets tickets to see the game in Magallanes VIP Zone. He meets Julissa and her dad who is not only fan but one of the team's managers. Andres and Julissa will fall in love and will have to pretend to be fan of the other's team. But soon trouble will arise.

From defecting to the Olympics, an underdog weightlifter powers through adversity to raise up his community in this biopic of Naim Süleymanoğlu.

In 1944 Tuscany, a group of boxers struggling through World War II stages rigged matches to earn money and travel, accompanied by a missing black American soldier and a girl resisting marriage, as they navigate the challenges of their war-torn world.

After receiving a large sum of money on his bank account by mistake, a small-town thirtysomething dissatisfied with his life sees the opportunity of turning back the clock to when things were good, reliving the carefree life of an university student in a big city. Here, he falls in love with a girl and gets her pregnant. There's just one problem: he already has a wife and a daughter back home!

Because of her past, 17-year-old Rio lives her days filling the emptiness in her heart with money—until one day, she meets a university professor named Kouki and falls in love.

An Italian doctor starts a new life in Kenya to escape the city, but life catches up with him when an old friend offers his assistance along with his wife, who happens to be an old lover.

After an argument with her younger sister, Le Ying moves out on her own. She meets a boxing trainer and starts boxing.

Elisabeth and John John are raised in the same city, yet they live light years apart, separated economically, socially and culturally. That is until the day they start in the same high school class.

A village girl agrees to a marriage to a king she has never met after he sends her a photograph of himself. But the man in the photograph is not the king but his most loyal slave, the handsome but mute Shankar.

The summer of '58, the year Sweden almost won the world championship in soccer over Brazil, Yngve Johansson accepts two children to live with him during the summer, as told through the eyes of a young boy. His name is Mårten, and the other child's name is Annika. She is a rough girl, with many problems. The three of them do not get along, and Yngve is a true dictator to the children's eyes. However, when the children discover that their new guardian has a crush on their teacher (Cecilia Nilsson), they do what they can to bring the two together. Soon enough, the three will discover that they have a lot more in common than they previously imagined, and together they can make their lives worth living again. This is a sweet story about life in Sweden in the mid 1900's. It is about family, love, hate, innocent friendship that we all can relate to, and much, much more...

Two Finnish men agree to drive an Estonian woman and a Russian woman to a harbor.

The story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.

A bankrupt entrepreneur attempts to recoup some of her losses by getting a washed-out boxer she picked up as a tax loss back into the ring — an idea her protégé isn't fond of.

Billy used to be a great boxer, but he's settled into a hardscrabble life that revolves around drinking, training horses, and the one bright spot in his existence — his young son, T.J. Although Billy has had custody of T.J. since his wife, Annie, left the family years ago, her return prompts a new struggle for the former fighter. Determined to hold on to his son, Billy gets back into the ring to try and recapture his past success.

After spending most of his life being defeated by his rival Ottone, meek Biagio tries to commit suicide – but in the hereafter he's offered a chance to come back to life for a week as Dennis, Ottone's trusted business partner.

In this action comedy the French boxer Jo Cavalier is charmed on the train to Berlin for the Olympics in Hitler's Germany by the little boy Simon Rosenblum who asks his autograph; when it turns out his adorable young fan is a Jewish orphan in danger of persecution, he risks his one shot at Olympic glory to save Simon and his family, helped only by a German officer-gentleman who became his friend in World War I, by an adventurous escape to Switzerland, Nazi troops on their heals and braving impossible odds in roller coaster-style.

At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.

A 22 year-old Bangladeshi-Italian Muslim boy meets a beautiful, exciting Italian girl who makes him re-analyze his beliefs and culture.

When his girlfriend Giorgia leaves him for his boss, journalist Giulio suddenly finds himself without a woman and with no job. Determined to win back his ex, he attends Valeria's classes, who teaches single men the art of seduction, convinced that relationships between people are motivated by simple biological stimuli.

A female boxing trainer discovers that her champion cage-fighter boyfriend has been cheating on her with her sister and decides to seek revenge by training up his arch-rival to challenge him.

Monika and Enzo's whirlwind romance heads toward a fairy-tale ending until a bombshell revelation changes everything.

After suffering a brutal defeat and being told he can no longer fight, 37-year-old, scar-ridden prizefighter Louis 'Mountain' Rivera struggles to find a new direction in life

A boy and a girl fall in love but their fathers take a strong dislike to each other, clashing repeatedly during the preparations for the upcoming marriage.

In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.

Haruki secretly had feelings for Akihiko for years, but Akihiko was still in a relationship with his roommate, the violinist Ugetsu Murata. Haruki, Akihiko, and Ugetsu's love clashes and starts to move forward.

Sara's dream of finding the perfect mate is realized when boyfriend Daniel proposes marriage, but there is one tiny hitch. It turns out he is the real-life prince of a small European monarchy, and his marriage requires the approval of his royal parents. Commoner Sara will have to do more than simply impress the in-laws-to-be. If she wants to become Daniel’s wife, she’ll have to prove she’s got all the makings of an honest-to-goodness princess.

Two strangers have dropped their kids off at a pickup area for a children's camp in Helsinki, Finland. A spark of mutual interest is ignited between the man and woman.

Nadya Klyueva is a single woman. Persuaded by her friend, she decides to charm her co-worker whom she doesn't really love, but who is the most popular man around.

It’s November 1989 and the world is changing. So is Jarle, who attends Kongsgård High School in Stavanger. He plays the guitar/lead singer in a local punk band, has a great girlfriend, and has the coolest best friend. But it's all about to change when Yngve enters the classroom.

Lapland Odyssey is a comedy about Janne, a man from Lapland in northern Finland, a man who has made a career out of living on welfare. Inari, his girlfriend, is tired of Janne's incapability of getting a grip on life, Janne wasn't even able to buy a digital TV box that Inari had given money for. Inari gives an ultimatum: a digital box needs to arrive by dawn or she leaves. Janne sets out into the night with his two friends to find a box. On their way to the city of Rovaniemi, Janne and his friends face many challenges, obstacles and temptations. They learn that they need to be daring. There's no room to give into bitterness. The most important thing isn't success, but rather the journey in itself.

Roro, a foreign worker in Swedish parks, loves his girlfriend but is about to marry another girl to prevent her from being sent back to Lebanon. Meanwhile, Roro's best friend, Måns, has serious problems getting an erection.

The overambitious pianist Andi and the more laid back Benno have one thing in common: They will both die soon. So the two of them decide to have the most awesome day before its too late.



