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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

Director
Cast

Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen, Janne Hyytiäinen, Nuppu Koivu

Credits
Country of Origin

Finland/Germany

Year

2023

Language

In Finnish with English subtitles

Content Warning

Alcohol Abuse

18+
81 min
Award Winners Comedy Romance

Book Tickets

Monday October 02

12:45 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
Vancouver Playhouse
Book now Limited availability

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 headshot

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)

Galas & Special Presentations

See more films in this series:

Fallen Leaves

Award Winners Comedy Romance

Ansi meets Holappa, and these two lonely souls feel they are meant for each other, but Fate may have other ideas... Aki Kaurismäki crafts a poignant and pertinent comedy which picked up the Jury Prize at Cannes.

Vancouver Playhouse
Last Summer
Last Summer film image

Last Summer

Action & Suspense Drama Women Directors

When lawyer Anne begins a taboo affair with her 17-year-old stepson, the balance of her life is threatened. In an exploration of power dynamics, Last Summer lures you in and refuses to shy away from discomfort.

Vancouver Playhouse

The Old Oak

Drama

The local pub is virtually the last community gathering place in an impoverished northern town. when an influx of Syrian refugees stokes xenophobic backlash, TJ, the bar's owner steps up and help the newcomers -- to the anger of some of his regulars.

Vancouver Playhouse

La Chimera

Comedy Drama Women Directors

Rohrwacher's first feature since Happy As Lazzaro is an exhilaratingly wild, mysterious, rough and tumble tale of a disheveled English tomb raider (Josh O'Connor) living with a roisterous group of Italian bohemians: singers, smugglers and petty thieves.

Vancouver Playhouse

The Promised Land

Action & Suspense Drama

In this enthralling period melodrama set in mid-18th century Denmark, Mads Mikkelsen tries to establish a farm on the gritty Jutland heath land, but must contend with the enmity of a ruthless local landowner. From the director of A Royal Affair.

Park Theatre
Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe
Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe film image

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe

Documentary

A celebration of Canada's favourite children's show, Mr. Dressup, which built a legacy of kindness, patience, inclusiveness, and creativity, all while enriching the lives of five generations.

Park Theatre

Anatomy of a Fall

Action & Suspense Award Winners Drama Women Directors

When Samuel is found dead outside his alpine cabin it's clear he fell from the attic. But did he jump, or was he pushed? Justine Triet became only the third woman to win the the Palme d'Or at Cannes, for this thoroughly engrossing courtroom drama.

Vancouver Playhouse
The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest

Drama

Glazer's chilling, scrupulously restrained account of the domestic life of Rudolph Höss (Christian Friedel) and wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) never takes over the wall separating their idyllic villa from his work -- the Concentration Camp at Auschwitz.

Vancouver Playhouse

Swan Song

Art, Music & Photography Documentary Women Directors

Legendary ballet dancer Karen Kain chose to direct Swan Lake at the National Ballet of Canada as her swan song. Chelsea McMullen's thrilling backstage documentary shows the grueling physical and emotional toil required to produce artistry at this level.

Vancouver Playhouse Park Theatre
Seven Veils
Seven Veils film image

Seven Veils

Action & Suspense Art, Music & Photography Drama

Haunted by disturbing memories Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to reshape the present as she re-enters the opera world in order to remount her former mentor's most famous work, Salome. Atom Egoyan's latest is a fractured mirror of abuse and catharsis.

Vancouver Playhouse

Monster

Action & Suspense Drama LGBTQIA2S+

In a poignant and piercing critique on homophobia, Shoplifters director Hirokazu Kore-eda explores the tension between a schoolboy and his teacher from various vantage points. This is a moral mystery tale, complex and gratifying.

Vancouver Playhouse

I'm Just Here for the Riot

Documentary Women Directors

Vancouver, June 15, 2011. Hours after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, rioters laid waste to blocks of downtown. In this absorbing documentary, Kathleen S. Jayme (The Grizzlie Truth) and Asia Youngman revisit that chaotic night.

Vancouver Playhouse Park Theatre

A Normal Family

Action & Suspense Drama

During a fancy dinner with their wives, two brothers with divergent moral principles learn of a disturbing situation involving both their teenage kids. In the fallout of this dreadful discovery, the families are faced with an unimaginable choice.

Vancouver Playhouse Park Theatre

The Boy and the Heron

Animation Drama

Spirited Away director Hayao Miyazaki returns from retirement with an enchanting swansong, the story of a young boy, Mahito, growing up in Japan during WWII, who must venture into a fantasy world in order to save his new stepmother.

Vancouver Playhouse

Priscilla

Drama Women Directors

Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) is just 14 when she meets Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi, Euphoria) on a US military base in Germany, 1959. Courteous, respectful and a little sad, he sweeps her off her feet. But this fairy tale romance is an illusion.

Vancouver Playhouse

The Pot-au-Feu

Award Winners Drama Romance

Set in France in 1885, and photographed like an Impressionist painting, this sublime foodie film surveys the intuitive, intimate partnership between famed gourmand Dodin (Benoit Magimel) and his beloved cook Eugénie (Juliette Binoche).

Vancouver Playhouse