Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki, 2023)
Fallen Leaves is a sweet movie by the Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki, about two lonely souls who slowly but surely fall in love with each other.
If that sounds like a rather thin premisse, well, it is. But you can count on the writer and director of modern classics like The Match Factory Girl (1990), The Man Without A Past (2002) and The Other Side of Hope (2017) to make a little go a long way. If only because like Pedro Almodóvar he can pull you into his cinematic world by using certain immediately recognizable trademarks.
Like in Kaurismaki’s case a fondness for characters with a strong working class background and ditto drinking habits, a habit of using solid color areas to liven up (potentially) drab backgrounds, a love for deadpan humor, and an even deeper love for rock & roll and other forms of music from the 1950’s and 1960’s. (This is, after all the man who made movies about Siberian rock band Leningrad Cowboys).
In Fallen Leaves we meet Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen). She works in a supermarket, until she is fired for trying to take home a sandwich with an expired sell-by date, with the intention of giving it to a homeless person. He works construction, but goes from job to job because he keeps getting fired for drinking on said job.
They first meet by chance in a karaoke bar, before going on a trip to the cinema, where they watch the horror comedy The Dead Don’t Die by Aki Kaurismäki’s dear friend Jim Jarmusch. A movie she finds to be hilarious.
Afterwards, Ansa gives Holappa her phone number, which he manages to lose almost immediately, in a way reminiscent of old Hollywood movies, which in turn sets in motion a wry comedy of errors, even though by this time we definitely root for a happy ending.
Fallen Leaves takes place in present day Helsinki, but neither Holappa or Ansa owns a mobile phone or is even aware of the existence of social media. In the Aki Kaurismäki universe, that’s part of the charm.
Otherwise, the movie does take place in the real world, as Ansa listens at home to the radio, for updates about the war in Ukraine, reminding us not only of the horrors perpetrated by Putin, but also (perhaps) making you think about the long and complicated relationship between Finland and Russia.
Even though the movie runs for only 81 minutes, Aki Kaurismäki takes his sweet time telling this simple but beguiling tale. At the most recent Cannes festival, Fallen Leaves was awarded the Jury Prize (the bronze medal, behind the Palme D’Or and the Grand Prix) and frankly, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer and more deserving movie.
Note: Fallen Leaves is playing the festival circuit. It is also released in cinemas: in Ukraine on November 9, in the United States on November 17, in the United Kingdom and Ireland on December 1, in The Netherlands and Mexico on December 7, with more countries to follow.