Fallen Leaves

Finland's official submission for Best International Film. Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (LE HAVRE, MAN WITHOUT A PAST) has been making his special brand of movies for some four decades now. FALLEN LEAVES is one of his best. Sporting his usual low key approach with clipped dialogue and an icy wit on par with a Scandinavian winter, Kaurismäki's latest takes the basic form of Romantic Comedy, but, of course, filtered through his sensibility.

A pair of lonely-hearts, Ansa (Alma Poysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), meet 'cute' at a Karaoke bar. Naturally, it isn't love at first sight, but, soon the resistance breaks and they go through the process of coming together, obstacles getting in their way and, eventually, fall in...well, sorta... - it's a Kaurismäki film.

What works so well here is the screenplay. Kaurismäki seems to have dissected his dialogue down to its most essential words. There isn't any excess. Nothing is said that doesn't need to be*. Yet, it remains a witty delight. The actors are on the same page and deliver their lines with essential succinctness, while never interfering with their physical performances - which are also spot on. Kaurismäki's genius is that even with so little said (or done), one still gets a full sense of his characters' lives. Oh, and the whole thing, including credits, is 82 minutes long.

The 66 year old Kaurismäki pays tribute here to Directors with their own inimitable style with references to Godard, Bresson and Jarmusch (stay tuned for the final kicker, which is a perfect capstone). He also uses pop tunes as a fine accent and amusingly names mundane drab holes in the wall joints with exotic monikers like Cafe California and Cafe Buenos Aires (not to mention warmer, too!).

On the surface FALLEN LEAVES may appear 'slight' - but, it's more meaningful than at first blush. It's a delightful film from a true original.

* In many ways, FALLEN LEAVES is a perfect film to introduce those with a hesitance to subtitles, since the dialogue is so sparse.

Greetings again from the darkness. Finland is often listed as the country having the happiest people, and this latest from writer-director Aki Kaurismaki (Oscar nominated THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST, 2002) arrives to make sure we never again believe this. It's not that the film is oppressively sad, but it does focus on loneliness ... especially that of the two main characters.

These two leads are Alma Poysti as Ansa and Jussi Vatanen as Holappa. The timeline of their relationship goes something like this: They notice each other on karaoke night at the local tavern, but they don't speak to each other. They cross paths at a bus stop, again not speaking. When they finally do meet, they go for coffee and a movie (Jim Jarmusch's zombie flick, THE DEAD DON'T DIE). He then loses her phone number. They almost meet a couple of times outside the cinema (where a Bardot poster is displayed), but just miss each other. When they do meet again, they part ways over a 'deal-breaker'. She adopts a stray dog she initially names "dog". When they meet again, they don't speak.

Some may call this progression dry, but with filmmaker Kaurismaki at the helm, a better description is wry. Ansa expertly sports a forlorn look most of the time. The only exception is when she flashes subtle signs of hopefulness when she looks at Holappa. On the other hand, he spends most every day and evening guzzling from a glass, a bottle, or a flask ... a habit that costs him various jobs. His circular reasoning is explained as: "I'm depressed because I drink and I drink because I'm depressed." Adding to the tone are reports of Russia's invasion of Ukraine every time Ansa clicks on her kitchen radio.

Ansa has a friend named Tanya (Alina Tomnikov) and Holappa has a buddy named Huotari (Janne Hyytiainen). He is attracted to her and she admires his singing voice, yet deems him too old to date. These two characters could have been expanded, but Kaurismaki is so efficient at storytelling that the film barely lasts 80 minutes. Static shots and wordless exchanges fill much of the time, each scene with a definitive purpose that we fully understand. Personally, I've rarely been so filled with hope as watching Ansa purchase a single plate and corresponding utensils.

The film is spartan and quiet, yet the deadpan characters feel real and fully developed despite minimal dialogue. There is certainly a message about alcoholism and how outside forces can have such an impact, and yet the film seizes on Ansa's hope for a better day. Kaurismaki's film won a Jury Prize at Cannes, and is Finland's submission for Best International Feature Film. For those who thrive on intimate cinema, it's a gem ... and for those who doubt that "happiest country" label for Finland, you now have your supporting documentation.

Opened in NYC and Los Angeles on November 22, 2023, other cities to follow.

..not with the movie, but with another seeker. That seems to be the main idea of Kaurismäki's movie Fallen Leaves.

Life is hard and monotonous. It's also petty, particularly when you're on low wages. So find someone to squeeze. Have a go at a bit of solidarity too.

Ansa and Holappa are both working annoying jobs in modern day Finland. They listen to news of the latest atrocities from the Russian army in Ukraine, they have a cigarette or a swig, they sit in unhappy bars, they struggle with their bosses, they are lonely. They admire the cinema.

Some of the vignettes are well informed about poverty, earlier in my life I worked in a supermarket where we would be in trouble if we took out-of-date food, even though we were hungry and were being made to throw it in the bin. The bosses' view was that we would deliberately let things go off, or over prepare fresh food if we were allowed to take the out-of-date food away. When we have money we take for granted things like internet access, when you don't someone will gouge you for a few minutes access.

Spend some time with someone who catches your fancy, use some energy to not mess it up. There's no sex in the movie and I quite like that in a society that over-fixates on fetishized addiction sex. Sometimes it's just lovely to have company, to talk and listen to music, just to feel their presence. Wouldn't you like a person round the house oh lonely cinema goer?

Ansa has been fired after the sell by, working in a supermarket time don't fly by, now she's lost and all alone, at least she has her little home, but she'd like to have someone, to share good times by. Holappa has been fired because he drinks, kind of guy who's world's eroded and just stinks, but he's fallen for a girl, it's put his head into a swirl, although the way things seem to go, you'd think he's jinxed. It's a story of two folk that come together, amid the backdrop of a war that seems to tether, as they do their best to miss, the opportunity for bliss, and start to live their lives, combined together.

Fallen Leaves is a rather short movie but very dense in content. The acting, the dialogues, the sets are austere, which can feel unattractive for many people used to the usual bombardment of images. But this minimalistic direction leaves an immense space for emotions.

The characters have precarious lives. They are confronted daily with the pains and the hardships of the working-classes: bad bosses, poverty, unemployment, addiction. On this background of darkness, the movie manages to remain light and even funny. Life feels fragile and yet, the characters also find solidarity, hope, and love. That might be the political and poetic meaning of this movie.

I left the theater full of joy and with a smile on my face.