Alexej Manvelov
Artan
Overview
In a desperate bid to reunite with his daughter, an armed man bursts into the medical center where his estranged wife works and kidnaps her.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
4 min readThe Road That Never Ends
I’ve seen this trick before—the desperate father, the stolen car, the gun pressed against a loved one’s ribs. It’s a setup that promises adrenaline, a countdown to disaster or redemption. But A Day and a Half isn’t interested in the mechanics of a chase.
It’s a film that lingers in the spaces between action, where the real tension isn’t the threat of violence but the slow unraveling of two people who once loved each other. And for a while, it works beautifully.
Fares Fares, the actor-turned-director, has made a film that feels like a pressure cooker. The opening sequence—a man bursting into a clinic, grabbing his estranged wife at gunpoint—is chaotic, almost documentary-like in its handheld urgency. But once Artan (Alexej Manvelov) and Louise (Alma Pöysti) are in the car, the film settles into something more unsettling: a road trip where every mile feels like a lifetime.
The camera lingers on their faces, the silence between them heavier than any shouted threat. It’s a gamble, this kind of restraint. Most thrillers would fill the air with sirens, radio chatter, the hum of tension.
Here, the quiet is the tension.
The film’s greatest strength is its refusal to simplify its characters. Artan isn’t a monster, just a man who’s lost everything—his daughter, his dignity, his place in the world. Manvelov plays him with a rawness that’s hard to look away from.
There’s a moment early on, when Louise asks why he’s doing this, and his answer isn’t a speech but a choked, broken thing: "Because I don’t know how else to make you listen." It’s the kind of line that could tip into melodrama, but Manvelov sells it with a quiet desperation that feels real. Pöysti, meanwhile, is all sharp edges—her Louise is a woman who’s spent years steeling herself against this man, and now she’s trapped in a car with him, forced to relive every old wound.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsFares Fares’ Directorial Debut: The High-Stakes Gamble Behind A Day and a Half
Fares Fares has spent decades in front of the camera—Westworld, Chernobyl, and a string of Scandinavian crime dramas—but A Day and a Half marks his first time calling the shots behind it. The 2023 Netflix thriller, a taut hostage drama inspired by true events, didn’t just test Fares’ range as an actor; it forced him to step into the director’s chair for a story where every minute counts. The result? A film that trades on raw tension, familial desperation, and a road trip gone horribly wrong.
From Actor to Auteur: Fares’ Risky First Move
Fares’ transition from actor to director wasn’t a vanity project. A Day and a Half is a high-stakes thriller co-written with Peter Smirnakos, centering on Artan (Alexej Manvelov), a father who storms a medical clinic armed with a handgun, demanding to see his daughter after losing custody to his estranged wife, Louise (Alma Pöysti) 
. The film unfolds over—fittingly—a day and a half, blending the claustrophobia of a hostage standoff with the unpredictability of a road movie.
For Fares, the material was personal. The script was inspired by real events, though details remain scarce in the available evidence. What’s clear is that Fares didn’t soften the edges. The film’s opening sequence—a chaotic, violent intrusion into a clinic—sets the tone: this isn’t a glossy action flick but a gritty, emotionally charged thriller where the stakes are life and death 
. The question lingers: Did Fares, known for his intense on-screen presence, push the cast to match his vision of unflinching realism?
Casting Choices: Familiar Faces in Unfamiliar Roles
Fares didn’t just direct A Day and a Half—he also starred in it, playing Lukas, a police officer brought in to negotiate the standoff . The dual role of director-actor is a tightrope walk, but Fares’ casting suggests he trusted his instincts. Alexej Manvelov, who plays the desperate father Artan, is a rising star in Scandinavian cinema, while Alma Pöysti (Fallen Leaves) brings quiet steel to the role of Louise, a woman caught between fear and defiance.
The supporting cast—including Stina Ekblad and Annika Hallin—rounds out the ensemble, but the film’s emotional core rests on Manvelov and Pöysti. Their on-screen dynamic had to feel volatile yet grounded, a balance that could make or break the film’s credibility. Early reactions on platforms like Letterboxd suggest the gamble paid off, with viewers praising the film’s "tense, character-driven suspense" . Still, without deeper behind-the-scenes accounts, it’s unclear how much improvisation or rehearsal went into crafting their fraught interactions.
Netflix’s Gamble on a Scandinavian Thriller
A Day and a Half arrived on Netflix in 2023, a platform increasingly hungry for international content with mainstream appeal. The film’s premise—a father’s desperate bid to reunite with his child—isn’t new, but its execution leans into the unpredictability of real-life hostage situations. Netflix’s Tudum site framed it as a "suspense-laden" directorial debut, positioning Fares alongside the likes of Denis Villeneuve and David Fincher in its marketing . The comparison might be a stretch, but it underscores the streaming giant’s bet on Fares’ name recognition.
The film’s reception has been mixed but largely positive among genre fans. Critics and audiences seem to agree on one thing: A Day and a Half isn’t just a thriller—it’s a character study disguised as a chase. The road trip element, a staple of tension-filled narratives, keeps the story moving, but the real drama unfolds in the quiet moments between Artan, Louise, and Lukas . Whether the film will join Netflix’s roster of breakout international hits remains to be seen, but it’s already a notable entry in Fares’ career pivot.
What’s Next for Fares Fares?
With A Day and a Half under his belt, Fares has proven he can helm a high-pressure project. The film’s success—or at least its visibility—could open doors for more directorial work, though no follow-up projects have been announced. For now, Fares remains best known for his acting, with a filmography that spans Swedish crime dramas (Easy Money) and Hollywood blockbusters (Rogue One). But if A Day and a Half is any indication, his future behind the camera might be just as compelling.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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