the man without a past [2002]

this finnish movie caught me by surprise. when a friend emailed me a couple of days ago suggesting this flick for our occasional movie night i did a quick imdb.com search and thought why not give it a go. turns out that my friend made quite a wonderful selection. there's a quirky charm to this love story of a man who is brutally beaten during a mugging and starts to rebuild his life on the margins of society.

it is a love story finally and such a sweet-natured one at that. the director, aki kaurismaki, is brand new to me even tho this pic is the second movie of kaurismaki's finland trilogy. the principals are superb in their protrayals of outcasts of society. even those characters whose actions appear mean are at the bottom decent if just a bit slightly off people. kaurismaki's pacing, editing, musical choices, compositions, writing and photography are of the highest order and if this movie is no masterpiece it is certainly worthy of a space on my dvd collection shelf.

kaurismaki's world is nearly timeless. i've been to helskinki just once and that certainly doesn't qualify me to comment on the way life is lived there. or what kind of phones its denizens use or what kind of cars they drive. in the world of kaurismaki there is '30s blues music, '50s cars, rotary phones, '70s fashions and early '90s computers which creates a mis-en-scene that is off-kilter. rather than settling into a single frame of time watching this movie i began to float in a kind of timelessness where the date didn't matter. what matters are the people who populate this world and the lives they have created for themselves.

and what a world. comedy driven by despair in a dead-pan delivery. think of the films of jim jarmusch but funnier and you have an idea of the world of kaurismaki. at the heart of the comedy is a clarity that is both sober, not sobering, but sober and very sane. the protagonist has his feet firmly planted and his love interest, a woman who works for the salvation army, is so delicious in her role of awakening love and desire that it is a wonder to watch.

i was deeply impressed and thanked my friend for suggesting this movie. the film is a refreshing breather from standard hollywood flicks. a movie like this wouldn't be made in hollywood where it is believed no one would want to see love between two middle-aged and not very attractive people. even in hollywood the middle-aged, and old, are incredibly hot. not so in finland and i am happier in the knowledge that such a movie was not simply just thought out but funded and finally expertly made. fantastic.