Not surprisingly the new film from Aki Kaurismäki (the writer/director with the best name in cinema) is ending up on people’s favorites list. As the credits rolled, I sat there knowing for certain that Fallen Leaves holds a charm that becomes undeniable; “becomes” being the key word there. This charm is coupled with Kaursmäki’s ability to make mundane or uninteresting things, absolutely pop in a way that is nothing short of masterful.
It’s a love story set in Helsinki following two depressed people, Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) and Ansa (Alma Pöysti). They initially lock eyes at a local karaoke bar, but a series of whimsical mishaps keeps them apart for a while. The story is fairly formulaic, as a way to highlight interactions we are supposed to invest in. Holappa and Ansa both have a best friend they interact with throughout. During these interactions we get a taste of the dry humor that overtakes the movie. In fact, all interactions in the film are dry. At times darkly dry, but always dry and always from stone-faced characters, abruptly starting and stopping conversations, be they meaningful or meandering.
Unfortunately, because of this dryness and my inability to connect with the characters until later into the movie, a majority of Fallen Leaves (around an hour of the hour and twenty-one-minute runtime)was a series of aspects I highly enjoyed, mixed with a singular aspect which kept me from connecting until the very end. Did I mention how dry this movie is?
My fragmented viewing experience made this a stunted watch. At times while the characters were talking about nothing or making with the “funny”, my mind wandered, fixating on a vibrant red couch or the shade of green on a work uniform, or the lighting or the blocking of a particular scene. And so, I sat in the theater for the longest time deciding on whether to admire the scenery, the set design and other technical aspects which are done to perfection, or make another failed attempt at connecting with deadpan characters.
Final Thought: Eventually I was more than a little charmed, finding the final twenty minutes beautiful and profound in ways that made me immediately want to rewatch the entire thing. This epiphany came during a song preformed at the Karaoke bar by the Finnish group Maustetytöt. From this pop song all of the pieces came together for me. Expressed via nihilistic lyrics justifying why the characters act the way they do, while also extending a metaphorical hand of relatability from said characters to the audience. After this, my eyes suddenly became open to Kaurismäi’s entire concept of finding love in a sea of despair, as a universally shared emotion. I do look forward to a second viewing.
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