(012524) Fallen Leaves is an unflinchingly bleak yet faintly hopeful and
unexpectedly inspirational film. It’s a tender black comedy/romance about a
pair of seemingly mismatched potential lovers. It is also one of the finest
romantic films of the year, and only
Past Lives
was a slightly better effort.
Unlike most of the products of the assembly line, big budget Hollywood, this one
is truly special with its own idiosyncratic style, and it could only have been
made by its terrific Finnish film maker, Aki Karismaki who obviously and
passionately believes that film culture still exists (maybe there is more of one
in Finland.) He might well be best known for doing the wacky wonderful cult
classic, Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). He is generally considered to be
the finest film maker to ever come out of Finland.
Fallen Leaves is Kaurismäki's 20th full-length film, and it continues
his Proletariat series, which was originally planned as a trilogy and
includes Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988), and The Match Factory Girl
(1990). All of the films in the series include the day-to-day struggles of its
working-class outcast protagonists. The subject matter is like that of Italian
Neorealists, only it is dealt with in a much more of a detached and ironic
manner. Also, the Neorealists elevated their protagonists to noble, almost
perfect saint like figures, the poor heroes here are much more flawed and even
at times absurd perhaps a little closer to the types of people we see in some of
Petro Germi’s Commedia D’Italiana films.
His newest film, Fallen Leaves, is one of the most internationally acclaimed
films of the year, and it has racked up many awards and much critical praise. It
was named best film of the year by Time Magazine, and it made the top ten lists
of Cashiers Du Cinema, National Board of Review and earned the Jury Prize at the
Cannes Film Festival. In addition, it was nominated for best international film
and best actress in a musical/comedy (for Alma Post) in the Golden Globes. Plus,
it currently has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is higher than
Barbie,
Oppenheimer,
Killers of the Flower Moon,
Poor Things
or Maestro.
Like many of Aki’s films this one deals with the impoverished lower class in
Finland. And it sometimes makes you feel like you are watching people from a
different planet. Everyone in the movie either talks in an emotionless dead pan
voice or speaks ironically and they seem far closer culturally to Germans than
Americans. The film also seems very Finnish or at least European because so many
other European films much of the communication takes place outside of words
through glances and other body language. American film makers often undervalue
the importance of silence.
Like the previous films in the trilogy by Karismaki, it is set in the same
place. The film takes place in a harsh region of Helsinki and most of the people
have demoralizing jobs and struggle to keep above water on a day-to-day basis.
Ansa (well played by Alma Poysti) is a low-level grocery employee who is fired
for taking home expired groceries that were supposed to be thrown away anyway to
avert her hunger. (the firing scene was probably included by the socialist
director Karismaki to show the contempt some in the managerial class have toward
the workers). She soon finds another crummy job as a bartender, but she loses
her job right away when her employer is imprisoned for selling drugs. No matter
how hard she tries she can’t ever seem to get ahead and she has the worst
imaginable luck.
Jussi Vatanen Is Holoppa, a man with a drinking problem who is fired from a
construction job for drinking on the job. Hollopa first makes eye
contact with Alma during karaoke at a local bar (although neither one sings) but
nothing comes of it. They end up meeting again at a café and he ends up asking
her out to a movie.
The pair saw an unlikely first date film, the Jim Jarmusch horror flick, "The
Dead Don’t Die" and they hit it off well initially. She gives him her number,
but he accidentally loses the paper in the wind, and he never thought to ask her
for her name. Later on, his excessive drinking creates problems in their budding
relationship.
This is definitely a film made by a cinema lover for true film fans. The film
has as many cinema allusions and homage's as a Tarantino flick but mostly
highbrow art films (Tarantino mostly references genre films or cinematic trash.)
Firstly, the film is shot at the same kind of slow pace as a Yasurio Ozo
film, and it has the same kind of poetic beauty so it’s likely the title is
meant to recall his films with seasonal titles such as Early Summer, Late Autumn
and An Autumn Afternoon as well as Floating Weeds. It also has bits of dialogue
such as “Only autumn thrives in your heart” that recall Ozu. Film fanatics
may notice that the scene at the bus stop with its lush romantic setting and
lovely string music recalls David Lean’s classic Brief Encounter (we also see a
poster of the film in another scene). The gorgeous ending evokes the
indescribably beautiful conclusion of City Lights and even includes a dog named
Chaplin.
Fallen Leaves is also filled with constant little news clips of the Ukraine war.
This serves to anchor the film in the present, which is a good thing because
apparently nothing much has changed in the town for fifty years and the film
could’ve easily taken place in the far past.
Fallen Leaves also features some terrific music that will be probably unfamiliar
to most American ears. The band at the bar is the real world girl group
Maustetytöt (a pop techno duo) and they play, “Syntynyt suruun ja Puettu
Pettymyksin”, a wonderfully droll and dreary song with ringing guitar about
death and suicide that helps to build up the gloomy background. The song
perfectly captures the tone and situation in the film when in ironic contrast
the upbeat music the vocalist sings the lyrics: “I was born in sorrow and
clothed in disappointment/I am a prisoner here forever.” and the song also
contains the line “Even the graveyard is by fences bound.”
But what most elevates the film is the fine, nuanced performance by Alma Poysti
which is one of the year’s most memorable. She is perfectly convincing playing a
woman who has such a terrible life that she will cling to any little glimmer of
hope that any little thing that has any possibility of making her existence a
little bit easier to bare (It is likely that even if they got together Jussi
would be unlikely to win husband of the year.)
In a similar way this film provides a little hope that directors with a limited
budget can somehow capture their own vision on celluloid in today’s ailing
corporate film culture. More importantly, it also shows that a story filled with likeable losers
that love can emerge even in the worst of circumstances when every door seems
closed.
|
|
Directed & Written by:
|
Aki Kaurismaki |
|
|
Starring:
|
Alma Poysti, Jussi Vatanen, Alina Tomnikov |
|
|
Released: |
02/1/2023 (USA) |
|
|
|
Rating:
|
PG13 for action scenes |
|
|
Available On:
|
At press time playing in limited release at
several
Chicago area theatres and streaming on MUBI
and HBO Max |
|
|
|
For more
writings by Vittorio Carli go to
www.artinterviews.org and
www.chicagopoetry.org.
His latest book "Tape Worm Salad with Olive Oil for Extra Flavor" is also
available.
Mister Carli is going to speak about how the Frankenstein Monster has evolved in
the media at Moraine Valley Community College in his upcoming lecture: “The
Complete Character is Nowhere: The Evolution of Frankenstein and His Monster in
Films, Comics and Songs”
This event is scheduled on Wednesday, March 6th, noon-12:50pm, at Moraine Valley
Library Lounge (Building L).
Come to the New Poetry Show on the first Saturday of every month at Tangible
Books in Bridgeport from 7-9 at 3324 South Halsted.
This is now a monthly show
featuring Poetry/Spoken Word, some Music, Stand Up and Performance Art and hosted by
Mister Carli. For more information e-mail: carlivit@gmail.com for
details
Upcoming features at the Poetry Show:
February 3-Special Daley College Show featuring Ana Arredondo, Jeremy Basso,
Christian Cofield, and Genesis Jiminez
|
|
FALLEN LEAVES © 2024 Sputnik Oy
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2024 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
|
|
|