Laitakaupungin valot. Aki Kaurismäki. 2006. ⚂

[fifteen minutes pass]

None of Kaurismäki’s regulars are in this? Instead it’s a bunch of more traditionally pretty actors?

How odd.

[ten minutes pass]

And yet another scene with an evil bank? Is this the third movie? Kaurismäki has his things he has to have in any movie… We’ve had the concert scene, there’s been an old large-engine car, lots of people smoking, there’s been a cute dog…

What’s unique here is that there’s an antagonist. I think that’s a first for Kaurismäki? It’s usually just… circumstances…

[half an hour passes]

It’s just strangely uninspired. Now they’re reusing the “Rich Little Bitch” song in a scene where it doesn’t even make much sense? Just how small a music collection does Kaurismäki have?

I also find it pretty annoying why the movie makes no effort to explain just why nobody likes the hapless lead character. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason for that… except that he’s the lead in a Kaurismäki movie? He seems aggressively average (although quite handsome), which makes it odd that all his colleagues hate him so.

Perhaps it would have worked if they’d cast somebody that didn’t look that hot?

[the end]

Kaurismäki’s movies usually feel like they’re coming from a good place. I’m not sure where this is coming from… it’s so aimless. It’s almost callous towards its characters, giving people like the woman in the gorgeous fast food stall no trajectory whatsoever.

It’s a sloppy movie, and not in a good way.

Mies vailla menneisyyttä. Aki Kaurismäki. 2002. ⚃

[forty minutes pass]

All of Kaurismäki’s interests are here: Down-and-out characters, cute dogs, Kati Outinen, lovely shots and colours, horrible music, old American cars, etc etc.

It’s a fine, solid movie, but I do feel that Kaurismäki is coasting here… there’s nothing new?

[the end]

I loved about half this movie: It’s such a likeable cast, and such an entertaining plot. But I felt like half the scenes had no reason to be here, and I grew distracted.

The good bits are awesome.

Kauas pilvet karkaavat. Aki Kaurismäki. 1996. ⚅

I’m just plowing through the remaining Kaurismäki movies. Only four more to go!

This is the first movie (I think?) after his first… unsuccessful movie? I mean, none of them were huge blockbusters, right, but Leningrad Cowboys Meets Moses is the first one that disappointed his fans, if I’m reading imdb correctly.

So is Kaurismäki doubling down on his aesthetic or is he trying something new?

[forty minutes pass]

This is such a sweet movie — quite reminiscent of Kaurismäki’s earlier trilogy that ended with The Matchstick Factory Girl, but more… assured? If there’s ever been characters in a movie that you yearn for a happy fate, it’s these two, and it’s just incredibly efficiently Kaurismäki made the audience feel for them.

The cinematography’s lovely, in a slightly super-real way, with sharp shadows and sets that look just a bit more real than reality.

[the end]

I laughed, I cried… well, mostly the latter.

It’s a crowd-pleaser of a movie for sure, and I’m happy to be one of the crowd. This does make me somewhat suspicious, though:

But what the hell. It’s a delightful movie.