There's just something cozy and delightful about the whole thing that has left me glowing in the time since I watched it.

| Mar 25, 2020

An appealing and harmless film that slyly subverts a genre long known for its unshakable touchstones.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 7, 2019

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki succeeds as a unique endeavor because Kuosmanen elides formula.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 9, 2019

A hidden gem in this year's Cannes lineup, Olli Mäki offers both visceral boxing thrills and as delightful a love story as you'll see in a film of any genre.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 3, 2019

A dithering hangout movie - warm and enveloping like the afternoon sun, luxuriating in gliding bike rides and long walks through the woods, easily digestible and easily forgettable.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 29, 2019

An elegant tale of personal desire and the sometimes lonely life of an athlete.

| Original Score: 4.8/5 | Aug 28, 2018

Olli Mäki has its own sublime view of the world where love is not easily attained nor abandoned.

| Aug 21, 2018

Breathtakingly original, as it feels like we are time-travelling to watch the events unfold... Performances are offhanded and almost startlingly natural.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 1, 2018

This film is an exquisite breath of fresh air... [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 28, 2018

Viewers who come under the apprehension that this is any kind of sports film are bound to be thrown by the wryly funny, mild-mannered yet deeply felt movie they find here.

| Dec 29, 2017

It's no Raging Bull. It doesn't want to be. If director Martin Scorsese was aiming for grand opera in his 1980 classic, Happiest Day is more like a breezy jazz riff.

| Dec 29, 2017

The film is a fresh-out-of-the-gate triumph for young writer-director Juho Kuosmanen, starting with his casting of Jarkko Lahti.

| Jun 15, 2017

It's an unusual boxing movie, and it comes without the many clichs of the genre.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 13, 2017

We don't see too many biopics in this country about guys who think winning isn't everything, the only thing, or even that much of a thing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 3, 2017

J.P. Passi's hand-held black-and-white cinematography cries out for big-screen viewing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 2, 2017

For Kuosmanen, The Happiest Day... is really a love story, and the low-key attitude is what makes it such a winning film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 30, 2017

This is a very small film, with a big heart.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 10, 2017

Performances are effective throughout. Lahti, in the title role, is completely believable as both a talented athlete and a humble soul.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 5, 2017

The major reason the film works is because [screenwriters Mikko] Myllylahti and [director Juho] Kuosmanen don't see this as a love story or even a story about boxing...

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 4, 2017

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mki is a portrait of a man who is ultimately a nurturer rather than a destroyer - in spite of punching people for a living - and it's one of the best films of the year.

| May 4, 2017