Little Siberia – Movie Review | Netflix (2/5)

LITTLE SIBERIA on Netflix is a crime thriller with a dark comedy vibe. It’s from Finland and because I’ve watched some amazing Finnish genre movies, I expected more from this. As a result, I was a little disappointed. Read our full Little Siberia movie review here!

LITTLE SIBERIA is a new Netflix movie from Finland (org. title: Pikku-Siperia). It’s a typical genre hybrid with crime, thriller and drama elements but using dark comedy to tie it all together.

If you’ve watched some of the amazing Finnish movies in recent years, you may expect something else. I know I certainly did and it turned out to be a huge disservice to this movie. I expected it to have more of an edge, so it kept feeling like a light version of what I was hoping for.

Continue reading our Little Siberia movie review below. Find it on Netflix from March 21, 2025.

A meteorite lands in a Finnish village

The opening scene of Little Siberia shows us how everything will get turned upside down for the people living in the small village of Hurmevaara. A meteorite comes crashing down in a blaze of fire.

It’s only the size of a grapefruit by the time it falls through the roof of a car, but it still changes everything. The mayor of the town is convinced this meteorite is very valuable.

In fact, he thinks it could make millions and save the slowly dying village.

Joel, the village priest (and a veteran peacekeeper so the man can fight) is one of the people who volunteers to guard the meteorite. He suffers from insomnia anyway, so it gives him something to do during the night.

It’s being held in an old museum before it’s to be sent off to London for evaluation, so that’s where Joel sits. Before the night is over, it’s obvious that it does in fact need protection. Joel is fighting off both amateur and professional criminals.

However, there’s a personal mystery weighing much harder on Joel’s mind than any space rock.

The first Netflix movie from Finland

In this first Netflix movie from Finland, the real mystery isn’t about the meteorite. Not for the main protagonist Joel. Instead, it has to do with the fact that his wife recently revealed that she is pregnant.

This is great news as they have been trying to get pregnant for years. Now they finally succeeded. However, there’s a small issue; Joel is unable to have children. He was injured when on a mission as a peacekeeper.

However, he never really got around to telling his wife, which explains why they’ve been trying to get pregnant for years. Of course, the official message from the doctor is that it would require a miracle for him to impregnate his wife.

So, not impossible, but as good as.

The priest should believe that prayer could result in miracles, but his faith isn’t as strong as it used to be. Even the meteorite seems to indicate that his God isn’t the only thing in Heaven, and it’s gotten him rattled. And quite depressed.

Plus, now he’s convinced his wife is cheating on him. This doesn’t have much to do with the meteorite, but Joel is responsible for guarding the precious rock from space while trying to solve the mystery of his wife’s pregnancy.

Watch Little Siberia on Netflix

Little Siberia is directed by Dome Karukoski, who directed the amazing Tom of Finland (2017) and Tolkien (2019) starring Nicholas Hoult in the title role. Based on the plot and this director, I expected to enjoy this one a lot more than I did.

This first Finnish Netflix movie is based on the novel of the same name. “Little Siberia” was written by author Antti Tuomainen. I haven’t read it, so I can’t attest to how closely the movie follows it.

What I can say is that it fell flat for me a lot. I kept expecting something to happen that would rattle me or surprise me in some way, but it never happened. I love the Christmas genre movie Rare Exports from Finland and was happy that one of the actors from that movie was in this.

Also, in recent years I’ve watched Hatching, Sisu, and Chainsaws Were Singing which I highly recommend. All are from Finland and left huge impressions on me and most others who watched them. So many great productions from Finland, so I admit I expected more.

Maybe that was my fault, but I simply expected this movie to be good and entertaining. For me, it was neither really, but maybe others (with no expectations) will have a better experience. For the record, this isn’t a bad movie, but it was disappointing to me.

Little Siberia will launch globally on Netflix on March 21, 2025.

Details

Director: Dome Karukoski
Script writers: Minna Panjanen & Dome Karukoski
Cast: Eero Ritala, Malla Malmivaara, Tommi Korpela, Martti Suosalo