Aki Kaurismäki is a genre unto himself. If you’ve seen Le Havre or The Other Side of Hope then you know what to expect, and if you haven’t, they’re charming, deadpan comedies about working class people, often melancholic or just alcoholic, but goodhearted and kind to dogs (there’s always a dog). In Fallen Leaves, Ansi (Alma Pöysti) meets Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), and these two lonely souls feel they are meant for each other, but Fate seems to have other ideas… From this simple love story, Kaurismäki crafts a poignant and pertinent comedy which picked up the Jury Prize at Cannes.
Jury Prize, Cannes 2023
Actually-funny and not just arthouse-funny […] Fallen Leaves is another of Kaurismäki’s beguiling and delightful cinephile comedies, featuring foot-tapping rock’n’roll. It’s romantic and sweet-natured, in a deadpan style that in no way undermines or ironises the emotions involved and with some sharp things to say about contemporary politics. Fallen Leaves is a film with a big heart, as absurd and cartoony as it may be, it fills you with a feel-good glow.
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen, Janne Hyytiäinen, Nuppu Koivu
Finland/Germany
2023
Special Presentations
In Finnish with English subtitles
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Credits
Producer
Aki Kaurismäki, Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff, Reinhard Brundig
Screenwriter
Aki Kaurismäki
Cinematography
Timo Salminen
Editor
Samu Heikkilä
Production Design
Ville Grönroos
Director
Aki Kaurismäki
Along with his brother Mika, Aki Kaurismäki’s output constitutes roughly one fifth of the Finnish film industry’s feature film production since the early 1980s. A former film critic, Kaurismäki found international acclaim for his deadpan, slowburn humanist comedies. Both The Man Without a Past (2002) and Fallen Leaves (2023) won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes.
Filmography: Shadows in Paradise (1986); Drifting Clouds (1996); The Man Without a Past (2002); Le Havre (2011); The Other Side of Hope (2017)
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