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Shadows in Paradise -
This is another droll, deadpan, elegant and deceptively simple comedy from Aki Kaurismaki that explores if love can bloom in Helsinki's working-class fringes. He sure gives leads Nikander (Pellonoaa), a garbageman, and Ilona (Outinen), a cashier, reason to believe otherwise, what with the former's despondence over his plans to join a new business venture vanishing into thin air. As for Ilona, her tolerance for men is justifiably wearing thin after yet another clueless male boss fires her for reasons unrelated to performance. Money, i.e. the actual stuff or the pursuit of it, indeed makes their lives more complicated and in unexpected and funny ways. Their first date at a bingo hall goes badly, and then there's Ilona's revenge theft from her employer, which as you can imagine gets out of hand. Whether due to inexperience or not wanting another good thing to go bad, hesitancy pervades their courtship, which has its cringe moments, but there are funny ones as well. Have you ever stayed in separate rooms while vacationing with a partner, for instance? In turn, this means the moments where they show affection for each other are all the more adorable, and in Kaurismaki fashion, rarely conventional. If you also enjoy hanging out in the dive bars and tiny apartments that make up Kaurismaki's Helsinki, you will get your fill here, especially for how colorful they are. His predilection for blues and old-time rock & roll all but enhances the working-class vibes.
Life is not easy when your job has long shifts and low pay, especially when you're in a place where attempting to improve your situation just makes life harder. This movie charms in its optimism that the possibility of something beautiful happening in this situation is possible anyway. Alternatively, and hopefully without spoiling anything, you can just run off to a place with a more level playing field! This is an '80s movie, but its appeal is timeless and not just because the Helsinki of 2023's Fallen Leaves does not seem that different. On that note, despite being a very Finnish movie, I think anyone - well, especially Midwesterners, but I digress - would enjoy it or at least relate to it.
This is another droll, deadpan, elegant and deceptively simple comedy from Aki Kaurismaki that explores if love can bloom in Helsinki's working-class fringes. He sure gives leads Nikander (Pellonoaa), a garbageman, and Ilona (Outinen), a cashier, reason to believe otherwise, what with the former's despondence over his plans to join a new business venture vanishing into thin air. As for Ilona, her tolerance for men is justifiably wearing thin after yet another clueless male boss fires her for reasons unrelated to performance. Money, i.e. the actual stuff or the pursuit of it, indeed makes their lives more complicated and in unexpected and funny ways. Their first date at a bingo hall goes badly, and then there's Ilona's revenge theft from her employer, which as you can imagine gets out of hand. Whether due to inexperience or not wanting another good thing to go bad, hesitancy pervades their courtship, which has its cringe moments, but there are funny ones as well. Have you ever stayed in separate rooms while vacationing with a partner, for instance? In turn, this means the moments where they show affection for each other are all the more adorable, and in Kaurismaki fashion, rarely conventional. If you also enjoy hanging out in the dive bars and tiny apartments that make up Kaurismaki's Helsinki, you will get your fill here, especially for how colorful they are. His predilection for blues and old-time rock & roll all but enhances the working-class vibes.
Life is not easy when your job has long shifts and low pay, especially when you're in a place where attempting to improve your situation just makes life harder. This movie charms in its optimism that the possibility of something beautiful happening in this situation is possible anyway. Alternatively, and hopefully without spoiling anything, you can just run off to a place with a more level playing field! This is an '80s movie, but its appeal is timeless and not just because the Helsinki of 2023's Fallen Leaves does not seem that different. On that note, despite being a very Finnish movie, I think anyone - well, especially Midwesterners, but I digress - would enjoy it or at least relate to it.