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Pihla Viitala

Pihla Viitala

Acting

Biography

She studied acting at the Helsinki Theatre Academy and began her career in the late 2000s with feature films such as Ganes (2007) and Tears of April (Käsky, 2008). In 2010, she was named one of Europe's Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival. She subsequently developed an international career, notably appearing in the American fantasy action film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) and the Italian comedy-drama Latin Lover (2015). On television, she achieved widespread international recognition for her leading role as Detective Sofia Karppi in the crime drama series Deadwind (Karppi, 2018–2021), a performance that earned her the Kultainen Venla Award for Best Actress. She has also featured in the drama series Arctic Circle (Ivalo) and Cold Courage (2020). In cinema, she portrayed the title role in the historical drama Maria's Paradise (Marian paratiisi, 2019).

Known For

Hustlers
4.6

The director Lauri Nurkse tells that Veijarit is a film about "arjensietokyvyttömyys" (= inability to tolerate everyday life) and about the Peter Pan complex. The main actor Mikko Leppilampi says it's about "kolkyttoistavuotiaat" (= thirtyeenagers = people of thirty behaving like teenagers). An immediate reference point is the commedia all'italiana of the 1950s and the 1960s, the black comedy often exposing the infantile stage of development of the Italian male. Saku and Ässä are anti-heroes, but we never fail to sense the humanity behind their shallow and crazy ways. Veijarit is a satire and a parody of a superficial way of life, but there is a vitality in the protagonists that we feel can lead them to a more meaningful stage of existence after the prolonged youth full of sound and fury. There is a motif of transcendence in the imagery of flying: will the balloons carry me or will they burst.

Hustlers

2010Movie