Juha

I'm not sure if this film has been released with English subtitles, but it does not matter. The story, the classic love triangle gone bad, is easy to follow in this silent movie. Director Aki Kaurismaki appears to have had fun with his remake of the Finnish novel. During the scenes at the farm house notice the subtle changes in the kitchen appliances, including the microwave oven. Kaurismaki is the director of the Leningrad Cowboys movies. Fans of those two movies should also recognize Sakari Kuosmanen, who plays Juha. Juha's beloved wife Marja is brilliantly played by Kati Outinen. Their visual narrative is both outstanding and insightful. I saw this movie with my wife during its first week in France. Neither of us speak Finnish nor could we read the French subtitles, but again, it didn't matter (thanks jan). With running time just slightly over an hour and fifteen minutes, it was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon in Paris.

The first reaction is: a silent movie? in black & white?? In Finnish??? Have no fear. This is a terrific movie, one of the best of the year, perhaps even Kaurismaki's best. Tremendous soundtrack, equally good acting, beautifully written. Juha brings it all together with rare power. Don't dare miss this one.

In a time where everything is so hectic it is good to see a proper film that is done in a way the films were done in the era of silent movies. The scene shootings are long, much appreciation is paid on lights on the faces of the actors...did I mention this is also black&white film.

Music and nature breathe, story goes on, the audience of this film is trilled by the skills of the director and cameraman. This film is a fresh breeze of something that many have forgotten in storytelling and movie-making among action-loaded movie-scenes that fills the screens and displays these days.

This movie is something quite different. My recommendations.

"Juha" is a finnish silent-movie in black and white about a farmer called Juha. This is probably the least commercial tag-line in 1999. However, if you, by any chance, manage to overcome your own prejudice, and see this film, you will experience 70 minutes of marvellous movie-making. It's poetic, it's warm and it has tons of careful, naïve humor. It is another masterpiece from the finnish master Aki Kaurismäki. See it.

Juha is the last silent film of the 20th century. And a truly great one, I might add. Adapting a Finnish literary classic (already brought to the screen three times), Scandinavian master Aki Kaurismäki (whose movies have always had limited dialogue, mind) tells a cruel, touching story of love, loss and revenge.

Weirdly for a Kaurismäki movie, Juha seems to open on a happy note: we witness the everyday life of the eponymous farmer (a never better Sakari Kuosmanen) and his wife Marja (the consistently astounding Kati Outinen). The two don't lead the easiest of lives, but somehow they manage to survive and keep an optimistic view on existence.

That's when Shemeikka (André Wilms, whose previous work with the director includes Bohemian Life and Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses) enters the game. He comes from the big city, and is forced to spend the night at Juha's because of a lousy car. The following morning he returns home, only this time he's got company: he has seduced Marja, promising her a better life. Sadly, she'll come to regret her choice as it turns out that Shemeikka actually runs a brothel. All she can do is hope her husband will forgive her and come to the rescue.

The audacious aspect of Juha is not the fact that it's shot in black and white (Kaurismäki does that quite often), but the fact that there's no sound at all. Dialogue is shown through title cards, and the rest of the action is left to the strength of the performances: Kuosmanen shows a staggering intensity as the leading man, Outinen is at her most vulnerable playing his wife, and Wilms is perhaps the best villain the Finnish director has ever come up with. Utterly cold and repulsive, he really makes sure you won't like him.

Juha works thanks to its honesty and raw power: it's not a pastiche of silent movies, but a serious, endearing tragedy, and further proof of Kaurismäki's high rank among Scandinavian film-makers.