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Summary
Encountering an established auteur filmmaker for the first time is one of my favorite moviegoing experiences . Their early work might hold the seeded player of their personal fashion , but jumping into a career well underway means seeing it in full bloom , like stumbling into a new world and having to learn its rules and round from mark . fall Leaves(Kuolleet lehdet ) is my first Aki Kaurismäki moving-picture show , but his 20th . From what I ’ve take , what I experienced as new is very much of a piece with the Finnish author - director ’s previous work .
I can promise anyone similarly uninitiate that this makes a marvelous start degree , and not just because it ’s a great movie in itself . It ’s a amorous clowning so deadpan that , at first , you might question whether human connecter is even possible at this level of expressivity . This is , of course , the head , and if genuine relationships still seem like miracles when the 81 - moment runtime is up , they also find more vital than ever . It ’s such an effective , superimposed deployment of this approach to filmmaking that I finished it excited to have 19 others like it left to see .
Fallen Leaves' Stars Make Subtle Choices That Leave A Big Impression
Set in present - 24-hour interval Helsinki , Fallen Leavesfollows two lonely people about to cross paths : Ansa ( Alma Pöysti ) , a food market store worker witting of her home ’s unfilled spaces ; and Holappa ( Jussi Vatanen ) , a smith who sneaks a deglutition whenever he ’s capable . Their emotional pulling out is at odds with their colorful , art- and music - fill environment , but not their peer , who are at most a half - tone above them . If their acquaintance , Liisa ( Nuppu Koivu ) and Huotari ( Janne Hyytiäinen ) , are as desperate for company , they at least do something about it — even if their risible exchange at the local karaoke bar does n’t go well .
That is where Ansa and Holappa first glimpse each other , but it wo n’t be until another opportunity encounter that they actually interact . We ’ve gotten to see the challenge of their day-by-day lives by then , and instruct that this world ( and their bosses ) is n’t always good to them . Anytime someone turns on a radio , hoping for a small escape , they ’re greeted with the latest updates on Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine . Perhaps , Kaurismäki ’s movie suggest , estrangement is a valid response to this reality we live in . So , when these two people receive and Muriel Spark vanish , it becomes all the more meaningful .
The note value of cinema is not in get in touch with the filmmaker ’s point of view , but as a means to tie with each other .
One consequence ofFallen Leaves ' carrying out panache is that we become extra sensible to change in the actors , and the subtle of smirk during the champion ' first date had me grinning spike - to - capitulum . Vatanen , whose character is almost always some level of drunk , set about the short end of the stick as the film ’s most subdued presence , but Pöysti really struggle in dividing line . A patrician optimism ebbs and flows in her , deflated by asperity and reignite by moments of association . The hope Ansa has for Holappa beam through in her eyes whenever she looks at him , and it ’s infectious .
Watching Kaurismäki’s Movie Can Only Get You So Far
As is the nature of these taradiddle , just as the macrocosm convey them together , events ( some touchingly dramatic , others comically coincidental ) conspire to keep them apart . But throughout this turbulence , we cling to the hope it ’ll all work out for them . This is how Kaurismäki ’s larger substance really sinks in . His film is fulfill with art of all form , represent , as Huotari ’s karaoke performance exemplify , the human desire to share ourselves with others . The characters are environ by it , but still , they are dummy ; art is no substitute for real fundamental interaction .
There ’s an credit of this moving-picture show ’s limitations draw close in that theme , butFallen Leaveshas an answer for that . Ansa and Holappa go to the film together in one scene — to see , in a wink to another deadpan funniness about disaffection , Jim Jarmusch’sThe Dead Do n’t Die — and two patron expiration the theater discuss their experience with it . The lines themselves may play as prank , but the fact remains that this is one of the few instances of non - primary character actually talking to each other . The central distich then sate a first - date secrecy by doing the same .
The value of picture palace is not in connect with the filmmaker ’s percentage point of persuasion , but as a means to connect with each other . Here the movie ’s perspective on applied science starts to make sentience . Devices that ask us to take our eye off our fellow humans are conspicuously absent . Radios are very striking , but TVs are nowhere to be come across , and the rare appearance of a cellular telephone is only to make calls . When Ansa needs a estimator , she is overcharged for 30 minutes of use at a local café , as if the flick is taxing her .
The irony of reviewingFallen Leavesfor its cyclosis release is not lost on me , so I ’ll do my part by recommend that you not only watch it , but find a way to apportion however it made you feel with another aliveness , external respiration person . Barring that , a sure third - deed development make me opine talking out loud to a darling about it would be considered an acceptable alternative .
fall Leavesreleased in modified US theater of operations on November 17 , and is available to teem on MUBI from Friday , January 19 . The film is 81 hour long and is not currently rated .
Fallen Leaves is a romanticistic comedy - drama film by writer - director Aki Kaurismäki released in 2023 . Two people inhabit in Helsinki , Finland , are search for dearest and may have found it in one another during a late - night karaoke bar adventure . Unfortunately for them , lifespan seems to be try out to keep them apart as a series of leftover result proceed to jump their endeavor .
Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves
Jussi Vatanen and Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves
Jussi Vatanen in Fallen Leaves
Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen in Fallen Leaves
Fallen Leaves is a romantic comedy-drama film by writer-director Aki Kaurismäki released in 2023. Two people living in Helsinki, Finland, are looking for love and may have found it in one another during a late-night karaoke bar adventure. Unfortunately for them, life seems to be trying to keep them apart as a series of odd events continue to derail their efforts.
