T&K's XMas (2024) Advent Calendar - Day 6: The Finnish Line

 2024, d. Dustin Rikert - Hallmark Channel/W Network

The Draw: It was requested, by my Finnish brother and frequent reader GAK. He's taken some (many) of my requests on his excellent radio programme, so it only seems fit that I return the favour and watch a Hallmarkie about Icelandic people pretending to be Finn.

HERstory: The film starts with the tale of a dogsled race in Finland, of fierce competition, of injury, leading to romance between a competitor and a nurse. Little Anya Kivelä has heard this story from her dad many, many times, and to her, it's been a story about missed glory. Her father had been an amazing sledder, but this defeat was his legacy.

Now grown up and following in her late father's path, Anya (Kim Matula, Fighting With My Family) is set to compete in the great 3-day, 300 mile Joulurauha ("Christmas Peace") race. Unbeknownst to her, she is competing against the very man who beat her father all those years, ago, a total blowhard jerkwad named Monty White. He constantly tries to belittle and infantilize her, but she can give as good as it gets. Anya is strong, driven, passionate, resilient...she is sisu. 

Supporting Anya is her associate and best friend Elyse (Nichole Sakura, Superstore) who is ready to elbow-dagger any reporters who dare get in Anya's way. Anya really dislikes reporters because of the way they had treated her father and his story.  So of course, when she gets in a bit of a bind, who comes to her rescue but a tall, dark and rugged reporter who happened to be a former sledder, Cole Olsen (Beau Mirchoff, Desperate Housewives), and his best sledding dog in tow [why is that important to mention, he said without a hint of foreshadowing?]. They have an immediate playful rapport, but...not flirty?

[I don't know what the rules are for travelling with one's five dogs cross-continent but it seems weird that they can just arrive with their dogs the day before the trials without any quarantine period or anything]

Anya's Finnish cousin Lavi (Benedikt Karl Gröndal) is her and Elyse's host and guide while in Finland, and he is also the race's lead veterinarian (he says there's not conflict of interest but there totally is).  He and Elyse are both yammering goofballs and they're a delight to watch. It's clear there's chemistry there (moreso than with Anya and Cole, at least to start).

Not Finland

During the qualifying time trials, Anya gets screwed over by a dirty kick to her sleigh from Monty, and in making up the time to qualify for the actual race, she pushes her lead dog too hard. He'll be fine, just in 4-6 weeks of recoup time. They visit the very un-goat-like Joulupukki in Rovaniemi (Santa's hometown) as Anya reluctantly wishes for a new lead dog from Santa. And Cole, of course, is there to offer up his best girl for the job, they just need to convince the race head that it's allowed.  Anya promises that Cole will do a big write-up profile on her in his sports magazine with millions of readers (what's this now?) which will promote the race, which has been sagging in international attention of recent years. Anya's stuck with Cole... good thing he's so uncharming and ugly and untalented. 

Apparently in Finland?

An actual Joulurauha, played by an actual Finn.

They spend the next five days trying to figure out how to get the pack to accept a new lead, and eventually figure it out. It's not a well oiled team but it will have to do.  They also take a horribly entertaining green screened ice bath that's clearly a set, and then cut to them a clearly non-functioning sauna. There's chemistry, maybe, but very little steam, both metaphorically and literally.

Not Finland

It's a Sauna, but is it Finland?

[If I'm missing out on describing all the explicitly Finnish things in this movie, it's because my mind is a sieve and everything seems to just pass on through with little filtered remains left behind].

Actually Finland

The three day race goes up and back down Finland (it's mostly bad green screen and red-line express, but a handful of grey-looking snowy vistas are spliced in between). Anya's team does fine, but she can tell they're starting to find their groove.

Making joulutorttu, but probably not in Finland.

During one of the stopovers Lavi sets up a big gathering of Anya's extended Finnish family and Anya does some baking with her aunt(?), making joulutorttu (I've had many times back in my gluten-ingensting days), and eventually Cole joins in, because Hallmark. Elyse asks Lavi to take her out on a date, and Lavi gets nervous and bashful and curses his Finnish charm and good nature for leading her on.  

The race the next day, Anya comes in second. She is psyched. Things are really starting to work, even if she screwed up a couple of things mid-race. That Monty guy is getting under her skin though.

Not sure if this is Finland...

The quartet of Anya and Cole and awkward Lavi and Elyse head to an ice castle restaurant which is a really neat environment. Later Elyse and Lavi make friends again, and Anya reads Cole's manuscript for a book he's writing. She likes it so she gives him some very personal insight into her motivations, and then she sucks his face real hard.

Finnish kissing, but not in Finland.

Monty gets into Anya's head before the final race, but she sucks it up big girl style and vows to take him on full force. Midway through the trail, Monty has had an accident, injured his leg and his sleigh is stuck between the ice and the rocks on the edge of a cliff. Anya helps this jerk out and nearly falls off the cliff, but with the help of Monty and another sledder she is saved and they all start off on their race again. Monty's injured leg means he's not going to win so he roots Anya on because they came to an understanding. Anya passes everyone and wins the race, but gives the spotlight back to Monty to tell the tale of derring-do.

The best green screening in the movie...also not Finland.

Lavi admits he was shy and does really like Elyse and she jumps him. Anya learns from auntie grandma that Cole is the almond in her oatmeal, and they go running to each other beneath the northern lights to suck face semi-obscured from camera.

The end.

The Formulae: I always forget to mention dead parents, but yeah, there's dead parents in this one. Or not in this one, as it were. 
I don't watch enough of the Hallmarkies that take place in other countries, but I'm certain there's formulae in how they explain the Christmas traditions of that country in a very primary and nuance-free fashion.
Oh, the  secondary male and female characters hooking up, total formulae.
There's a baking sequence, but not a montage.

Unformulae: So, Anya is pretty much all business. She's dedicated to her sport, and Cole is kind of a pleasant but also complimentary distraction that isn't much of a distraction at all. We don't see that much from the usual Hallmarkie. Basically, Anya's the lead dog, and Cole is happy to follow and support. It's pretty great change of pace actually.
Dogs, but not dogs being cute, just dogs being dogs and sometimes doing their job. It's pretty cool.
There was, like, some action happening in this film, with the racing and the big climactic cliffside sequence... again, a bit of adventure is not the typical Hallmarkie's forte.
And, like, actual winter weather. People wearing winter gear because they actually needed it. I'm sure it was late winter/early spring in Iceland when they shot it, but still looks so wintery, which is such a rare treat for a Hallmarkie.

True Calling? I guess, since it's set around race, set in Finland. (Theoretically it's set in Finland. It was primarily shot in Iceland...likely because they already had the crew for the Icelandic-set Chabert/Polaha joint The Christmas Quest).

The Rewind: Oh, some of the greenscreen shots of Matula "racing" are freaking hilarious. I delighted in every janky backdrop (there was even a janky greenscreen backdrop for the odd reindeer-drawn sleigh ride, where it's just one reindeer pulling a sleigh with two passengers and moving at walking speed since a handler walks with the reindeer...so...whaaaa?

I also had to go back and find out if that dude's name was GAK, but it Jaak. Boo.

The Regulars: Matula made her Hallmark debut with Ghosts of Christmas Always in 2022 and Checkin' It Twice in 2023 and she's a real spunky lead.  She doesn't seem to cave to the romance-obsessive female lead characters, and she's got a pretty great sarcastic wit.  Most of the other performers are Icelandic so they don't have Hallmark credits, and Mirchoff and Sakura are new to Hallmarkies, but are welcome back any time).  Gröndal, who played Lavi, was so much damn fun with really great comedic timing. He also had the best Finnish accent of all the actors (whose Finnish accents didn't seem to ring true to my Thunder Bay-born ears).

How does it Hallmark? Honestly, it was a tad light on Christmas and romance, so not great on that front which are basically the two fronts you want in a holiday romance... but it was heavy on winter and good vibes with two charismatic leads with two very entertaining, charismatic supporting players who we care about just as much, so hard to complain. Plus, the script was largely pretty tight, with surprising moments of maturity and self awareness, not often found in the more juvenile, traditional Hallmarkie.

How does it movie? Lady Kent likened it to a Disney adventure movie, and she's not far off. It's not really getting all the details 100% right, but I don't think it was ever really trying to. It's got quite a lot of laughs and smiles throughout (and the shoddy green screening was just part of the fun for me).  I really had to convince Lady Kent to watch it in the first place, luring her in with the promise of dogs (honestly not of the dogs) and she had to begrudgingly admit that it was surprisingly watchable, maybe even enjoyable. It did need more Christmas and lean more into the romance though.

How Does It Snow? So. Much. Snow. And real snow. Almost unreal how much real snow there was.

Going for a Reindeer sleigh walk...but in Finland?