{"id":19413,"date":"2023-10-07T21:24:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T01:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=19413"},"modified":"2023-12-12T05:48:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T10:48:22","slug":"new-york-film-festival-review-fallen-leaves-two-lonely-finns-find-hope-in-deadpan-master-aki-kaurismakis-unique-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=19413","title":{"rendered":"New York Film Festival Review \u201cFallen Leaves\u201d: Two Lonely Finns Find Hope in Deadpan Master Aki Kaurism\u00e4ki\u2019s Unique Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ansa and Holappa, the quiet loners in \u201cFallen Leaves<\/strong>\u201d, are on their first date watching Jim Jarmusch\u2019s zombie movie \u201cThe Dead Don\u2019t Die<\/strong>\u201d in the local Ritz movie theater. Coming out, someone makes an absurdly amusing comparison: \u201cit reminded me of “Diary of a Country Priest<\/strong>\u201d, Robert Bresson\u2019s classic. Ansa gives Holappa her phone number on a piece of paper but won\u2019t reveal her name. The wind blows it away and he spends several anxious evenings smoking outside the cinema hoping, romantically old style, she would pass by.<\/p>\n

Aki Kaurism\u00e4ki, the legendary leading voice of Finnish cinema, is back. With \u201cFallen Leaves<\/strong>\u201d he puts a love story at the center and pays tribute to cinema\u2019s greatest while pointing out the \u201cbloody war\u201d in Ukraine. And rest assured, his unique cinematic world is basically the same as it has been for more than 35 years. Infused is his trademark minimalistic cool and bleak spirit, spiced with distinctive deadpan humor and warm humanism. His marginalized outcasts dealing with everyday struggles are once again depicted with tragi-comic tenderness.<\/p>\n

In 2017 Kaurism\u00e4ki claimed that \u201cThe Other Side of Hope<\/strong>\u201d would be his last film. He changed his mind. \u201cFallen Leaves<\/strong>\u201d makes a fourth addition to his \u201cProletariat Trilogy\u201d \u2013 comprising “Shadows in Paradise<\/strong>” (1986), “Ariel<\/strong>” (1988) and “The Match Factory Girl<\/strong>” (1990). Looking like the 60s, but we\u2019re in present time, Ansa works in a supermarket and is fired for trying to take home an expired sandwich. Back in her apartment in the rundown yellow house in Helsinki she burns her microwave food and can only afford 29 minutes at an internet caf\u00e9. At a joint on Karaoke night, with customers without face expressions (one singing out Schubert\u2019s \u201cSerenade\u201d), she meets shy construction worker Holappa played by Jussi Vatanen, a Finnish equivalent to Ryan Gosling.<\/p>\n

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He doesn\u2019t want to sing because \u201ctough guys don\u2019t sing\u201d – \u201cyou are not a tough guy, says his friend. The two lonely souls find a quiet heartwarming connection which could be a salvation in their grim reality but is jeopardized by Holappa\u2019s fondness for drinking hard liquor. He says to his best friend Houtari (Janne Hyyti\u00e4inen), who doesn\u2019t know his first name: \u201cI drink too much because I\u2019m depressed, and I\u2019m depressed because I drink too much\u201d. Holappa already lost a few of his physically demanding jobs because of it and Ansa, who lost her father and her brother to alcohol and her mother to heartbreak because of it, leaves him until he is \u201csober as a decent rat\u201d.<\/p>\n

Where love is concerned, Kaurism\u00e4ki finds hope for his broken characters. In contrast to \u201cThe Match Factory Girl<\/strong>\u201d (with regular Kaurism\u00e4ki actress Kati Outinen), the two blue collar workers in \u201cFallen Leaves<\/strong>\u201d do find some light in love. This time Kaurism\u00e4ki is more romantic than in a long time. The title “Falling Leaves<\/strong>” comes from the old French song “Les feuilles mortes”, which is also heard in the film. Their almost wordless connection is incredibly moving, simple and yet profound. Their restrained performances are beautifully acted by Alma Py\u00f6sti who is best known for \u201cTove<\/strong>\u201d (2020) and Jussi Vatanen, a household name in Finland. Both making their first Kaurism\u00e4ki film appearance. There are other familiar faces. Showing up are \u201cCompartment No. 6<\/strong>\u201d director Juho Kuosmanen and the leads in \u201cThe Other Side of Hope<\/strong>,\u201d Sherwan Haji and Sakari Kuosmanen, who is a long-term Kaurism\u00e4ki regular. As usual, Kaurism\u00e4ki\u2019s characters are not dramatic, don\u2019t move much, don\u2019t say much, and smoke a lot with straight-faces \u2013 \u201cpeople talk too much anyway\u201d Kaurism\u00e4ki declared once.<\/p>\n

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Most of the talk comes from the vintage analog radios in both Ansa\u2019s and Holappa\u2019s apartments (televisions or computers are not around). The news of the Russian invasion in Ukraine is broadcast and there is a lot about the horror in Mariupol. They are of course bothered a lot about it, especially Ansa. The war is very real for them – Finland has a long border with Russia. Kaurism\u00e4ki\u2019s worldview is clear.<\/p>\n

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His humanism always shines through and his respect for conventions is low. In \u201cLe Havre<\/strong>\u201d (2011) and \u201cThe Other Side of Hope<\/strong>\u201d he put refugees in the center. It seems impossible for someone like Kaurism\u00e4ki to not comment on the war in Ukraine. \u201cIf we don\u2019t have humanity we couldn\u2019t exist or even shouldn\u2019t exist\u201d he said earlier this year.<\/p>\n

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His trademark is portraying working class underdogs and their struggles. Yet their struggles are bathed with empathy (and cigarette smoke), and they find hope in the hardships of everyday life.<\/p>\n

In their world, red lightens up the bleakness. The color is very present this time – everywhere from sofas, handbags, jackets and the bar wall, to lighters and old telephones at the hospital. The regular Kaurism\u00e4ki cinematographer Timo Salminen uses his static camera to capture nothing more than is necessary – the simple beauty and glimpses of light in people\u2019s dim reality. Homages to movie masters are also woven into his films as Kaurism\u00e4ki typically likes to reference classic cinema. Here he makes it more visibly. It’s not only his film guru Robert Bresson and the Frenchman\u2019s simplicity he nods to, but also Chaplin (it\u2019s the name of Ansa\u2019s dog\u2019s too), Buster Keaton, Yasujir\u014d Ozu and his mutual admirer Jim Jarmusch. In the cinema lobby hang posters of Bresson\u2019s \u201cL\u2019argent<\/strong>\u201d and David Lean\u2019s \u201cBrief Encounter<\/strong>\u201d. For our two loners cinema is an escape. For Kaurism\u00e4ki it\u2019s about people who try to survive in the world they were born into. To find a little hope in the hopeless, the humane in the lonely stripped down ruthless world. There\u2019s humor in the failure, little beauties in life.<\/p>\n

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Grade: A-<\/p>\n

Check out more of Niclas’ articles.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n