Directed by:
Aki KaurismäkiScreenplay:
Aki KaurismäkiCinematography:
Timo SalminenCast:
Turo Pajala, Susanna Haavisto, Matti Pellonpää, Eetu Hilkamo, Erkki Pajala, Matti Jaaranen, Hannu Viholainen, Jorma Markkula, Tarja Keinänen, Eino Kuusela (more)Plots(1)
After the coal mine where he works is shut down, Taisto (Turo Pajala) leaves the countryside for Helsinki in order to make a better life for himself. He meets Irmeli (Susanna Haavisto), a jaded meter maid with a young son. After being thrown in jail for a petty crime, Taisto teams with another inmate (Pellonpää) to escape both the prison and Finland. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
A very accessible romance in which Kaurismäki repeats the motif of escaping from social conditions, unlike the Calamari Union without humor and the motif of fateful love "on the edge of the law", but this time without the charming poetry of the periphery from Shadows in Paradise. It's just a nice story, this time told without fundamental irony and with an emphasis on fluidity. That's probably why I miss Kaurismäki's distinctive roughness hidden behind the apparent crispness - all that remains is the (undoubtedly cute) casual crispness.
()
Aki Kaurismäki certainly didn't become my favorite director with this. Even though the film is interesting in how it depicts the environment and individual characters, I just couldn't empathize with the characters or even with the world that was presented. It's like it was ours, but it still felt strangely distant to me.
()
Ads