Review for The Aki Kaurismäki Collection

This year has been such a great year for Blu-Ray releases. So much stuff has been put out, carefully curated, re-mastered and lovingly embellished with extra features, that it’s almost overwhelming. Despite my own collection housing some 4000 features, with a few dozen shamefully still sealed in cellophane, there is always something as yet undiscovered but incredibly worthy of purchase. Nothing more so than this magnificent, comprehensive, career-spanning collection of cult Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki's films. It’s unarguably one of the best collections of the year.


I hadn’t seen much of Kaurismäki's work to date (actually, only ‘Leningrad Cowboys’) but what I had seen I thoroughly enjoyed and should have sought out more. On the strength of this collection that has clearly been my loss – until now. Whilst the set is expansive, containing no less than 17 feature films and numerous shorts, I found myself binge-watching it and (metaphorically) shaking the box at the end for more.

Although the work is a little uneven, ranging from highly polished, high production value features to grungy looking shorts, it all hangs together as a fairly cohesive whole – a strange mix of very dry, sardonic humour mixed with genuine human melodrama and tragedy, and all very Scandinavian, though not all in the Scandic-noir vein.

Using a highly talented ensemble of actors, pretty much unchanged throughout, there is some sort of continuity between pieces but never a narrative one (apart from ‘Leningrad Cowboys Go America’ and ‘Leningrad Cowboys meet Moses’ which are two parts of the same pod). In fact, actors change roles from major parts to minor as suits the film, and the sheer versality of the actors is almost breath-taking throughout. Characterisation is everything here and I was lost, again and again, in the small worlds created through the films, usually featuring societies underdogs, bohemians and outsiders.


Here’s what you get.

DISC 1

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (1983) - 93mins
Kaurismäki’s first feature follows the descent into crime of Rahikainen, a slaughterhouse worker and former law student, who murders a businessman (who it transpires, accidentally ran over and killed his lover) and then begins a tense game of cat and mouse with the police. In fact, it’s clear that, by consistently returning to the scene of the crime, Rahikainen is not too concerned about getting caught. He is discovered at the scene of the crime, immediately after the murder, by a young lady who has turned up to discuss an event with the victim. He unapologetically explains that he committed the murder and that she should now ring the police. However, there is a strange bond between the two and she is reticent to turn him in. The film is a bleak but utterly compelling update of Dostoevsky’s great novel, and there are some standout performances here from what would become his core ensemble of actors. The cinematography is sympathetically grey but incredibly impressive for a feature debut. 8/10



CALAMARI UNION (1985) - 80 mins
Whilst this is still hailed as a cult masterpiece, and a defining piece of work that has the auteur’s unique stamp on it; for me, this was the least enjoyable film in the set. Surreal and absurd, and filmed in grungy high contrast black and white, it features a gang of men who seem to do whatever they please; calling each other Frank whilst hanging a round in cafes and bars, endlessly smoking and often sleeping rough. For me it became a bit tiresome but to be fair, probably paved the way for the excellent dark comedy, ‘Leningrad Cowboys’ later on. There are some laugh aloud moments, like when they gate crash an individuals abode to see of they can stay overnight, and it transpires he lives outside so has ‘plenty of space’. A bit of an acquired taste, and definitely something lost in translation on this one. Worth a watch, of course, and entertaining enough but not as standout as so many others in this set. 6/10



DISC 2

SHADOWS IN PARADISE (1986) - 76mins
This third film in this set and in many ways one of the least stylised, but this was the point at which I decided there was something very special about Kaurismäki’s work. Playing out like a 1980’s ‘I, Daniel Blake’, it tells the tale of an introverted rubbish collector (played superbly by Matti Pellonpää, looking very much like a young George from ‘George & Mildred) who lives an almost solitary life in a meagre, damp flat – entertainment being a sterile, brightly lit bingo hall and drab bars. His partner, who is in his 50’s has had enough and, having revealed plans to set up a commercial rubbish collection business of his own, keels over and dies of a heart attack. It’s something of a wake-up call and when he meets a sales assistant (Kati Outinen) in a local supermarket who catches his eye, he is determined to get the courage up to ask her out. Together they falteringly set up a home together after an awkward start. It may not sound like a barrel of laughs, and it isn’t, but it’s an incredibly compelling watch and the two leads (who are part of his regular ensemble) turn in incredibly nuanced performances. Fantastic. 9/10



DRIFTING CLOUDS (1996) - 96mins
Another slightly bleak neo-realist outing, this time featuring a hard-working youngish couple, living a modest life in Helsinki as a Waitress and a Tram driver. All is well until the husband loses his job, and discovers he has a medical condition making it impossible to get another driving job. This is swiftly followed by a redundancy from the restaurant where she works, bought up by developers who have other ideas for it. Having just bought a brand new television on HP, the couple now face hardship and need to find jobs. Eventually the wife (Kati Outinen again) finds work as ‘all the staff’ in a small café working for an arrogant boss who continuously raids the till for drink money whilst leaving her to serve customers, clear plates and cook the food. When she meets her old boss, she agrees to fund a new venture with all the old staff from her previous restaurant – including a psychopathic cook who, despite being an alcoholic, may be the best cook in Helsinki. Her husband also throws himself into the enterprise. The film ends on a wonderfully optimistic note with an incredibly successful opening week. It’s full of pathos, real life misadventure and quirky humour and is just so believably human. Another wonderful film and seen as the first part of the Finland trilogy. 9/10



The disc also a very slight short, featuring singer Markus Allan and his small orchestra (who appear in Drifting Clouds) called Oo Aine Ihminen (‘Always be a Human’) (1996) - 5mins


DISC 3
HAMLET GOES BUSINESS (1987) - 87mins
I’m never keen on Shakespeare adaptations, but I would certainly make an exception for this quirky rendition. An irresponsible playboy finds himself involved in a vicious boardroom power struggle with his uncle who plans to sell off his company’s assets in order to corner the market on Swedish rubber ducks. It looks like the Uncle may have been poisoning his Father, as well as courting his mother, in order to get his ill-gotten gains. But all is not as it seems, and the arrogant young Hamlet, with 51% of the shares, decides to stop being merely a dilettante and get seriously involved in winning the business back. In this wicked and hilarious satire of the corporate world, Kaurismäki liberally updates Shakespeare’s tragedy as a hard-boiled noir B-movie. 8/10




LA VIE DE BOHÈME (1992) - 100mins
Featuring the core ensemble again, this delightful film (my favourite of the bunch actually) features a luckless painter, a playwright and an intense, avant-garde composer, all down at heel who, by happenstance, end up becoming a near inseparable bunch of friends in Paris. Like all bohemians, theirs is a constant battle to survive, living in near squalor and never being sure where the next meal or the rent money may come from. When two of the three get girlfriends, they start to see their own world through their partners eyes. It’s a fantastic, warm film full of humour, but also capable of raising a tear too. A stunning film, all shot in black and white with Paris as its backdrop; for me this is, quite simply, as good as it gets. 10/10



DISC 4
ARIEL (1988) - 74mins
Very much in the Kaurismäki ouvre, ‘Ariell’ sees Taisto, a newly-unemployed miner from Lapland, set off in a Cadillac convertible for a fresh start in Helsinki. His father has just committed suicide and he has been framed for a crime he didn’t commit. So whilst doing time, he starts to dream about escaping and starting a new life. Which is what he does. He’s joined by meter maid Irmeli and her young son. Nothing goes quite to plan. It’s a classic, almost noir style road movie, full of quirky humour and pathos. 8/10



THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL (1990) - 68mins
Iiris (played by fantastic Kaurismäki regular, Kati Outinen) hates her dead-end job working on the assembly line in a match factory. However, when she one day has a romantic encounter with a wealthy businessman she thinks her life might be about to change. But he thought it was no more than a one-night stand and this is not the news Iiris wanted to hear. Whilst the narrative inches along at a snail’s pace, often with scenes with little or no dialogue, (there is literally no dialogue for the first 15 minutes or so) the end results are a sublime slice of real-life. Although there is precious little here to laugh about, somehow I found myself doing exactly that on occasion, perhaps just at the sheer absurdities of life; all intentional I’m sure. 8/10



Also includes: Valimo (2007) - 5mins, which is a real short showing a weird slice of life with workers of a foundry eat their lunch and watch a Lumiére brothers film ‘Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory’ (1895).

DISC 5
LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICA (1989) - 78mins
The Leningrad Cowboys, a fictional Russian rock band, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band. It has a touch of the hyper-surreal about it, though not as extreme as ‘Calamari Union’ , with super-sized quiffs. (There was something in the air at the time that also saw films like ‘Johnny Suede’ (in my opinion, Brad Pitt’s finest hour) and ‘Cry Baby’ adopt a similar po-faced adherence to these extreme, Rockabilly stylings).

Having failed to impress a local Producer, he suggests they try America as pretty much anything goes there. The rest is pretty much a wild road movie which gets its humour from extreme examples of the culture clash, as well as the bizarre relationship between the group and their ‘manager’, Vladimir , who drinks his way across the US a can at a time, though now one is entirely sure where all the beer comes from.

It’s not a film that’s easy to describe and its deadpan, scandic humour will divide opinion, so I offer up the following sample (not this Blu-Ray edition so ignore the quality) by way of illustration. If you like this clip, you’ll love the film. It also has a cameo from Jim Jarmusch, which indicates the direction of travel here. 8/10



LENINGRAD COWBOYS MEET MOSES (1994) - 94mins
In an equally surreal second outing, the band's former manager gets back in contact with them saying he is the reincarnation of the Biblical prophet and needs to take them to the promised land... back to Siberia. He’s serious too. As he says, by way of persuasion: “Business is business! But Moses... is Moses!”



So the band leave Mexico to get as far as Coney Island, ready to start their journey back to Siberia – a road trip in reverse. Like many sequels, it fails to ignite in quite the same way as previously. The first is like nothing before, whilst this is, well, a slightly paler facsimile of what went before. Having said that, it’s still great fun and well worth a watch. 7/10

DISC 6
TOTAL BALALAIKA SHOW (1994) 57mins
A documentary covering the Leningrad Cowboy's Helsinki concert to 70,000 people with the Alexandrov Red Army Chorus and Dance ensemble. It’s a pretty straightforward ‘rockumentary if you will’ and fun, if you enjoyed the music from the films. I guess this could be seen as a supplement to the features, rather than a stand-alone piece, which is precisely how it was delivered by Criterion in their DVD release of the two features. 6/10



It features 13 songs from the concert:

· Finlandia
· Let's Work Together
· The Volga Boatmen's Song
· Happy Together
· Delilah
· Knockin' on Heaven's Door
· Oh, Field
· Kalinka
· Gimme All Your Lovin'
· Jewelry Box
· Sweet Home Alabama
· Dark Eyes
· Those Were The Days

Also includes a bunch of related music videos featuring the Leningrad Cowboys and related acts like Melrose; all surreal In the extreme: These Boots (1994) - 5mins, Those Were the Days (1992) 5mins, Thru the Wire (1987) - 6mins, Rocky VI (1986) - 9mins, Rich Little Bitch (1987) - 5mins,

A final inclusion is Dogs Have No Hell (2002) - 18mins, which is Aki Kaurismäki’s short contribution to producer Nicolas McClintock‘s multi-director project Ten Minutes Older (2002), which features fifteen short films from around the world. In ‘Dogs Have No Hell’, time is explored through an icy love relationship, in true understated, slice-of-life style.


DISC 7
TAKE CARE OF YOUR SCARF, TATJANA (1994) - 62mins
Valto discovers the coffee runs out. His mother refuses to make him more right away. So he locks her in the cupboard, takes her money and sets off for nowhere in particular with his alcoholic friend, Reino, in search of coffee and vodka. Valto installs a portable coffee maker in his car, now more or less his home, and also has a record player that lets him slot in old rockabilly 45s like CDs.



He is not much of a talker, leaving that to his self-styled ‘rocker’ friend, Reino. But their reveries are interrupted by the arrival of garrulous Russian Klaudia and Estonian Tatiana - who are clearly interested in the two men, despite the language barrier. But what are the chances of getting a response from men who prefer staring at vodka bottles to talking? Another utterly bewitching slice of life that has little in the way of plot and luxuriates in slow moving moments. Fantastic! 8/10

JUHA (1999) - 78mins
Based on a much-filmed Finnish novel from 1911, but here transported to the 1970s, Marja and Juha are a happily married couple living a normal, if uneventful country life on a farm. When a man asks for help fixing his convertible car, Juha throws himself into it, blissfully unaware that the man is doing his utmost to persuade Marja to run away with him to the city. Seduced by his sophisticated ways, and the potential excitement of life in the city, she goes with him but finds herself imprisoned in a brothel. Bleak, dour stuff that has a slightly Lynchian air. 7/10



DISC 8
THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST (2002) - 91mins
Following Drifting Clouds, this is the second part of Kaurismäki's Finland trilogy. A man arrives in Helsinki only to be severely beaten and mugged. He sustains some head injuries which mean he's lost his memory and so has no choice but to start a completely new life, almost literally. He meets a Salvation Army lady and they develop a relationship. Nominated in 2002 for an Oscar for best foreign film, it’s classic Kaurismäki with the trademark deadpan humour and slow-moving narrative.
Great stuff. 9/10



LIGHTS IN THE DUSK (2006) - 82mins
The final part of the Finland trilogy, the film is about a loner security guard, Koistinen, who is set up in a robbery by a femme fatale who exploits his gullibility and loyalty. Unusually, classical music is used as background throughout much of the film, as opposed to vast swathes of silence so typical of Kaurismäki’s work. 7/10



The last two discs weren’t included in the preview discs kindly sent by Artificial Eye. On the strength of the set, I now have them on order but haven’t seen either so have resorted to the press release descriptors only.

DISC 9
LE HAVRE (2011) - 93mins
Marcel and Arletty’s quiet, economically impoverished but emotionally rich life is disrupted when she is diagnosed with a serious disease. At the same time, Marcel takes a young illegal immigrant under his wing. A glorious, colourful and deeply humane work.



DISC 10
THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE (2017) - 100mins
Khaled is a young man who has travelled to Helsinki from his home in Syria to seek asylum. For first-time visitors, Finland’s capital city can be a strange and confusing place. But help is out there for those who know where to find it.



The Aki Kaurismäki's Blu-Ray collection is fantastic. Every home should have one. Possibly the best release of the year.