Aki Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves is screening exclusively on Mubi in many countries.Fallen Leaves.There’s a moment early in Aki Kaurismäki’s latest film, Fallen Leaves (2023), that will surely tug at the heartstrings of shy lovers everywhere. A man, Holappa (played by Jussi Vatanen), and a woman, Ansa (Alma Pöysti), sit across from each other in a bar. Between them, his friend tries vainly to flirt with hers, getting nowhere, but Holappa and Ansa themselves do not speak, and instead merely stare meekly into their drinks, the gap of a few meters opening up like a yawning chasm. Then, for just a moment, Holappa looks up from his beer and their eyes meet. And as they do, the first cascading piano chords of Franz Schubert’s “Serenade” are heard and a besuited man takes the karaoke stage to start singing: “Softly my songs plead / through the night for...
- 2/4/2024
- MUBI
Never mind the Blues-, here are the Techno Brothers, and they are ready to conquer Japan. The music band in the film pronounced as a trio of geniuses on a par with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, The Beatles, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan by their agent Himuro (Asuna Yanagi), consists of real life Watanabe brothers (Hirobumi and Yuji) and Kurosaki Takanori, dressed up as if they came out of the Kraftwerk impersonators' competition. In case anyone wonders, yes – they are dressed in the signature red shirts and black ties, and they perform long electronic numbers in the most unlikely of places such as a recreation park and a green house to a very small, mostly unwilling audience.
“Techno Brothers” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
There are evident film influences from the 1990s in the “Techno Brothers”, from Jim Jarmusch's “Stranger Than Paradise”, the above indicated Jon Landis musical hit,...
“Techno Brothers” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
There are evident film influences from the 1990s in the “Techno Brothers”, from Jim Jarmusch's “Stranger Than Paradise”, the above indicated Jon Landis musical hit,...
- 4/26/2023
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This April will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Monday, April 3 The Chaos of Cool: A Tribute to Seijun Suzuki
In February, cinema lost an icon of excess, Seijun Suzuki, the Japanese master who took the art of the B movie to sublime new heights with his deliriously inventive approach to narrative and visual style. This series showcases seven of the New Wave renegade’s works from his career breakthrough in the sixties: Take Aim at the Police Van (1960), an off-kilter whodunit; Youth of the Beast (1963), an explosive yakuza thriller; Gate of Flesh (1964), a pulpy social critique; Story of a Prostitute (1965), a tragic romance; Tokyo Drifter...
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Monday, April 3 The Chaos of Cool: A Tribute to Seijun Suzuki
In February, cinema lost an icon of excess, Seijun Suzuki, the Japanese master who took the art of the B movie to sublime new heights with his deliriously inventive approach to narrative and visual style. This series showcases seven of the New Wave renegade’s works from his career breakthrough in the sixties: Take Aim at the Police Van (1960), an off-kilter whodunit; Youth of the Beast (1963), an explosive yakuza thriller; Gate of Flesh (1964), a pulpy social critique; Story of a Prostitute (1965), a tragic romance; Tokyo Drifter...
- 3/29/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
The Finnish screenwriter employs his usual sensitivity to highlight the experiences of two men who flee their homes and form an unlikely friendship
“Always different, always the same”: John Peel’s famous description of The Fall applies equally well to the work of the melancholy Finnish minimalist Aki Kaurismäki. The 59-year-old has been writing and directing for more than 30 years, scarcely tweaking his formula of woebegone absurdism. His films, which include the knockabout Leningrad Cowboys Go America and the poignant Cannes Grand Prix-winner The Man Without a Past, are mostly set in the Finland that time forgot, where there is scant evidence that things have progressed beyond the 1950s. Vodka, rockabilly, Brylcreem and smokes are the order of the day; they are the only things that lighten life’s load. Along with kindness and companionship, which sprout unexpectedly in the gloom like spring daffodils in February.
Related: Le Havre – review
Continue reading.
“Always different, always the same”: John Peel’s famous description of The Fall applies equally well to the work of the melancholy Finnish minimalist Aki Kaurismäki. The 59-year-old has been writing and directing for more than 30 years, scarcely tweaking his formula of woebegone absurdism. His films, which include the knockabout Leningrad Cowboys Go America and the poignant Cannes Grand Prix-winner The Man Without a Past, are mostly set in the Finland that time forgot, where there is scant evidence that things have progressed beyond the 1950s. Vodka, rockabilly, Brylcreem and smokes are the order of the day; they are the only things that lighten life’s load. Along with kindness and companionship, which sprout unexpectedly in the gloom like spring daffodils in February.
Related: Le Havre – review
Continue reading.
- 2/14/2017
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
It was announced in December that Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki would be embarking on production for his next picture, which would be the second chapter in his "port city trilogy" that was kicked off with 2011's charming "Le Havre." The working title for the flick had been "Refugee," which as you might guess is informed by the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. Read More: Cannes Review: 'Le Havre,' Another Hilarious, Humane & Moving Film From Aki Kaurismäki The Finnish Film Foundation has announced that it's granting production funding to Kaurismaki's new project, which now is now evidently called "The Other Side Of Hope." No official details have been released, but last year it was said that Kaurismäki regular Sakari Kuosmanen ("The Man Without A Past," "Drifting Clouds," "Leningrad Cowboys Go America," "Shadows In...
- 4/26/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 29: Aki Kaurismäki’s Leningrad Cowboys.
About the films:
In the late eighties, Aki Kaurismäki, a master of the deadpan, fashioned a waggish fish-out-of-water tale about a U.S. tour by “the worst rock-and-roll band in the world.” Leningrad Cowboys Go America’s posse of fur-coated, outrageously pompadoured hipsters struck such a chord with international audiences that the fictional band became a genuine attraction, touring the world. Later, Kaurismäki created a sequel, Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses,and filmed a gigantic outdoor concert that the band put on in Helsinki, for the rollicking documentary Total Balalaika Show. With this Eclipse series, we present all three crackpot musical and comic odysseys,...
About the films:
In the late eighties, Aki Kaurismäki, a master of the deadpan, fashioned a waggish fish-out-of-water tale about a U.S. tour by “the worst rock-and-roll band in the world.” Leningrad Cowboys Go America’s posse of fur-coated, outrageously pompadoured hipsters struck such a chord with international audiences that the fictional band became a genuine attraction, touring the world. Later, Kaurismäki created a sequel, Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses,and filmed a gigantic outdoor concert that the band put on in Helsinki, for the rollicking documentary Total Balalaika Show. With this Eclipse series, we present all three crackpot musical and comic odysseys,...
- 10/22/2015
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Review by Sam Moffitt
I really wanted to review a movie for the holidays but realized there is not much more to be said about the classic Christmas films. What could I possible add to the words already written about Miracle on 34th St or A Christmas Carol (any version) or Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life?
And then I heard about and got Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale and I am so happy to report that here is a totally original, wonderful, funny and finally enchanting, Christmas movie that was released in 2010.
First a little background, made in Finland and shown at festivals all over the world, Rare Exports is actually based on Finnish legends of Father Christmas, and he was not what you would think, and Rare Exports is in a category all its own when it comes to holiday spirit.
Having seen some of Aki Kaurismaki’s films,...
I really wanted to review a movie for the holidays but realized there is not much more to be said about the classic Christmas films. What could I possible add to the words already written about Miracle on 34th St or A Christmas Carol (any version) or Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life?
And then I heard about and got Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale and I am so happy to report that here is a totally original, wonderful, funny and finally enchanting, Christmas movie that was released in 2010.
First a little background, made in Finland and shown at festivals all over the world, Rare Exports is actually based on Finnish legends of Father Christmas, and he was not what you would think, and Rare Exports is in a category all its own when it comes to holiday spirit.
Having seen some of Aki Kaurismaki’s films,...
- 12/23/2013
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 21, 2014
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion
A group of impoverished, outcast artists living the bohemian life in Paris in La vie de bohème.
The 1992 film La vie de bohème by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre, Leningrad Cowboys Go America) is a deadpan tragic-comedy about a group of impoverished, outcast artists living the bohemian life in Paris.
Based on stories from Henri Murger’s influential mid nineteenth-century book Scènes de la vie de bohème (the basis for the opera La bohème), the film features a marvelous trio of Kaurismäki regulars, André Wilms, Matti Pellonpää, and Karl Väänänen, as a poet, painter, and composer who scrape by together, sharing in life’s daily absurdities.
Gorgeously shot in black and white, La vie de bohème is a vibrantly scrappy rendition of a beloved tale and one of Kaurismäki’s most beguiling works.
Presented in French with English subtitles,...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion
A group of impoverished, outcast artists living the bohemian life in Paris in La vie de bohème.
The 1992 film La vie de bohème by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre, Leningrad Cowboys Go America) is a deadpan tragic-comedy about a group of impoverished, outcast artists living the bohemian life in Paris.
Based on stories from Henri Murger’s influential mid nineteenth-century book Scènes de la vie de bohème (the basis for the opera La bohème), the film features a marvelous trio of Kaurismäki regulars, André Wilms, Matti Pellonpää, and Karl Väänänen, as a poet, painter, and composer who scrape by together, sharing in life’s daily absurdities.
Gorgeously shot in black and white, La vie de bohème is a vibrantly scrappy rendition of a beloved tale and one of Kaurismäki’s most beguiling works.
Presented in French with English subtitles,...
- 11/8/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
This attractive Finnish film brings to mind the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's Leningrad Cowboys Go America, a zany comedy about a terrible Finnish rock group touring the States. The difference, however, is that Kärkkäinen and Passi's film is a documentary about a real punk quartet called Pertti Kurikka's Name Day, a genuine punk quartet made up of the autistic duo of Pertti Kurikka (lead guitar) and Karl Aalto (singer), and the Down's syndrome duo of Sami Helle (bass) and Toni Välitalo (drums). Sami and Toni are younger and more cheerful than Pertti and Karl, whose songs are often angry and aggressive (eg I Need a Little Respect and Dignity in My Life; I Hate the World). But all four have a suitable punk wildness.
The film presents them in warm domestic settings, on tour, making their first overseas visit (including an amusing gig on Hamburg's Reeperbahn), and cutting their first DVD.
The film presents them in warm domestic settings, on tour, making their first overseas visit (including an amusing gig on Hamburg's Reeperbahn), and cutting their first DVD.
- 2/3/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Le Havre from internationally acclaimed director Aki Kaurismäki comes to DVD and Blu Ray on 6 August, and to mark the release we’ve got 3 Blu-rays to give away!
Le Havre sees Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past) tackle the subject of Northern Europe’s attitude to refugees from the developing world. His approach is dramatic, funny, heart-warming and, like his other work, beautifully offbeat. Featuring superb performances from its cast that includes André Wilms (La Vie de Bohème), Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Red Lights) and the young Blondin Miguel.
Marcel Marx (Wilms), a former author and a well-known Bohemian, has retreated into a voluntary exile in the port city of Le Havre, where he feels he has reached a closer rapport with the people serving them in the occupation of the honourable, but not too profitable, of a shoe-shiner. He has buried his dreams of a literary breakthrough and...
Le Havre sees Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past) tackle the subject of Northern Europe’s attitude to refugees from the developing world. His approach is dramatic, funny, heart-warming and, like his other work, beautifully offbeat. Featuring superb performances from its cast that includes André Wilms (La Vie de Bohème), Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Red Lights) and the young Blondin Miguel.
Marcel Marx (Wilms), a former author and a well-known Bohemian, has retreated into a voluntary exile in the port city of Le Havre, where he feels he has reached a closer rapport with the people serving them in the occupation of the honourable, but not too profitable, of a shoe-shiner. He has buried his dreams of a literary breakthrough and...
- 7/27/2012
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 31, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
André Wilms means business in Le Havre.
Le Havre (2011) is a surprisingly warm-hearted comedy film from the usually deadpan Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (Leningrad Cowboys Go America).
In the French harbor city Le Havre, fate throws the young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms, La vie de bohème), a kindly, aging bohemian who shines shoes for a living. With inborn optimism and the support of most of his tight-knit community, Marcel stands up to the officials doggedly pursuing the African boy for deportation.
Tagged by Criterion as “a political fairy tale that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic French cinema of the past, especially the poetic realist works of Jean Duvivier and Marcel Carné,” the acclaimed Le Havre rang up some $620,000 at the U.S. box office since...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
André Wilms means business in Le Havre.
Le Havre (2011) is a surprisingly warm-hearted comedy film from the usually deadpan Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (Leningrad Cowboys Go America).
In the French harbor city Le Havre, fate throws the young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms, La vie de bohème), a kindly, aging bohemian who shines shoes for a living. With inborn optimism and the support of most of his tight-knit community, Marcel stands up to the officials doggedly pursuing the African boy for deportation.
Tagged by Criterion as “a political fairy tale that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic French cinema of the past, especially the poetic realist works of Jean Duvivier and Marcel Carné,” the acclaimed Le Havre rang up some $620,000 at the U.S. box office since...
- 4/25/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
From April 6, Cannes favourite Le Havre will be in cinemas. But for those who might prefer (and live in the UK or Ireland), you can stream it here via Curzon on Demand. Either way, be sure to tune in for our Q&A with top evolutionary theorist Mark Pagel next Friday night
Cannes 2011, on reflection, looks an absolutely vintage year. Not only did it introduce us to The Artist and Melancholia, The Tree of Life and Take Shelter, it also gave us The Skin I Live In, Footnote, Drive, The Kid on the Bike and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.
And now we're approaching the release one of the films which Peter Bradshaw wrote about most warmly last May: Le Havre.
Reviewing the latest from Aki Kaurismäki – the deadpan Finnish film-maker behind I Hired A Contract Killer, The Match Factory Girl, Leningrad Cowboys Go America and The Man Without...
Cannes 2011, on reflection, looks an absolutely vintage year. Not only did it introduce us to The Artist and Melancholia, The Tree of Life and Take Shelter, it also gave us The Skin I Live In, Footnote, Drive, The Kid on the Bike and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.
And now we're approaching the release one of the films which Peter Bradshaw wrote about most warmly last May: Le Havre.
Reviewing the latest from Aki Kaurismäki – the deadpan Finnish film-maker behind I Hired A Contract Killer, The Match Factory Girl, Leningrad Cowboys Go America and The Man Without...
- 3/29/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
"In his mid-50s and a festival favorite since the 80s, [Aki] Kaurismäki has joined the ranks of the master auteurs," writes Dennis Lim in the Los Angeles Times, "but in the Us at least, he has remained somewhat overlooked. Le Havre is being released by Janus Films, the sister company of the Criterion Collection, and for those looking to catch up, a pair of DVD boxed sets are available on Criterion's midprice line Eclipse. Compassionate chronicles of the romantic, economic and existential plights of blue-collar outsiders, the films in the Proletariat Trilogy set [Shadows in Paradise, Ariel and The Match Factory Girl], made between 1986 and 1990, put Kaurismäki on the international map. The Leningrad Cowboys set (out this week) shows off his goofier side, not to mention his taste for Soviet kitsch and American rockabilly."
This second trilogy — Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989), Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (1994) and Total Balalaika Show (1994) — "chronicles eight years in the group's history, from their ramshackle...
This second trilogy — Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989), Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (1994) and Total Balalaika Show (1994) — "chronicles eight years in the group's history, from their ramshackle...
- 10/19/2011
- MUBI
Before Sunday night meant recording Junk Food Dinner, Sunday night meant Hillbilly Drive-in at Chateau Awesome. A lot of great people in one of the best backyards in Columbus all armed with beer and jokes to vote on the evenings double features. Uncomfortable chairs were a small price to pay for some of the best viewing experiences I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. Though some things have changed, the Chateau is no more, and chair technology has advanced a great deal - the spirit remains. If you're in Columbus or even near by, do yourself a favor and show up at Ace of Cups (2619 N. High St.) this Sunday evening (5pm) for the triumphant return of Hillbilly Drive-in - hosted by Kevin Merryman (Cultural Atrocities/JFD13, 44, & 63) and Nick Schuld (Minimum Tillage Farming/Terminal 75/The Obviouslies). This week: "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" Next week: ??????? You'll have to...
- 10/1/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Kevin, Mark & Parker)
Release Date: Oct. 18, 2011
Price: DVD $44.95
Studio: Criterion
The Leningrad Cowboys prepare for another hair-raising show.
Criterion‘s Eclipse Series 29 features the inimitable work of Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki (The Match Factory Girl), the master of the deadpan comedy, and his weirdest creation: the band Leningrad Cowboys, billed by their inventor as “the worst rock-and-roll band in the world.”
A bizarre posse of fur-coated, outrageously pompadoured Siberian hipsters, the band struck a chord with international audiences via their debut star turn in the 1989 Kaurismäki film Leningrad Cowboys Go America. The fictional band was so popular that it became a genuine attraction, touring the world and appearing in a handful of subsequent Kaurismäki movies.
This Eclipse series presents these crackpot musical and comic odysseys, all Finnish films, along with five Leningrad Cowboys music videos directed by Kaurismäki.
Here’s what’s included in the DVD:
Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
The struggling Siberian...
Price: DVD $44.95
Studio: Criterion
The Leningrad Cowboys prepare for another hair-raising show.
Criterion‘s Eclipse Series 29 features the inimitable work of Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki (The Match Factory Girl), the master of the deadpan comedy, and his weirdest creation: the band Leningrad Cowboys, billed by their inventor as “the worst rock-and-roll band in the world.”
A bizarre posse of fur-coated, outrageously pompadoured Siberian hipsters, the band struck a chord with international audiences via their debut star turn in the 1989 Kaurismäki film Leningrad Cowboys Go America. The fictional band was so popular that it became a genuine attraction, touring the world and appearing in a handful of subsequent Kaurismäki movies.
This Eclipse series presents these crackpot musical and comic odysseys, all Finnish films, along with five Leningrad Cowboys music videos directed by Kaurismäki.
Here’s what’s included in the DVD:
Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
The struggling Siberian...
- 8/5/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Mumbai: Ndtv Lumiere and Sweet Nirvana has launched 'Comedies In August as part of the Carlsberg World Cinema Sundays. Featuring a double dose of comedy this month, Carlsberg World Cinema Sundays will screen Aki Kaurismaki's cult classic Leningrad Cowboys Go America and Alain Chabats' Didier.Leningrad Cowboys Go America revolves around the Leningrad Cowboys who decide to leave the Tundra for America only to find fame, fortune and everything that goes with it. While Didier is an entertaining film about – the Labrador, who unexpectedly transforms into a man, keeping his dog's ...
- 8/4/2009
- BusinessofCinema
By Michael Atkinson
When we first met Aki Kaurismäki, in 1989 when "Ariel" had its run as probably the first Finnish film to play theatrically in America since Jörn Donner's "Portraits of Women" (1970), we more or less fell in love. Lost in the hollow skull of the Reagan-Bush '80s, suffering the ascension of Spielberg and Ivan Reitman and Shane Black, wondering what remote atoll international art cinema had escaped to, and more or less completely ignorant of Finnish life, we had every reason to embrace this last of the red hot deadpan existentialists, whose films somehow altered the cellular structure of working class depression and turned it into cool comedy. His distinctively bittersweet dyspepsia established Kaurismäki, in a thick run of films that included "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" (1989), "The Match Factory Girl" (1990) and "La Vie de Bohème" (1992), as a new arthouse brand name, a kind of vodka-weary Bresson-meets-Tati.
Kaurismäki...
When we first met Aki Kaurismäki, in 1989 when "Ariel" had its run as probably the first Finnish film to play theatrically in America since Jörn Donner's "Portraits of Women" (1970), we more or less fell in love. Lost in the hollow skull of the Reagan-Bush '80s, suffering the ascension of Spielberg and Ivan Reitman and Shane Black, wondering what remote atoll international art cinema had escaped to, and more or less completely ignorant of Finnish life, we had every reason to embrace this last of the red hot deadpan existentialists, whose films somehow altered the cellular structure of working class depression and turned it into cool comedy. His distinctively bittersweet dyspepsia established Kaurismäki, in a thick run of films that included "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" (1989), "The Match Factory Girl" (1990) and "La Vie de Bohème" (1992), as a new arthouse brand name, a kind of vodka-weary Bresson-meets-Tati.
Kaurismäki...
- 9/23/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
- With the forthcoming releases of Control and I'm Not There - the folks over at Time Out (London) brought their collective of film and music critics together to chart the top films pertaining to music legend. The Top 50 list manages to make no mention of a recent Hollywood-ized bio-tales of Ray Charles and Johnny Cash (thank you!) and from the chunk of films that I have seen the positioning seems a propos. Todd Haynes' who has his Dylan creation coming out soon tops this list with one of my favorite films from the helmer in Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story. Personally I would have found space another Da Pennebaker film in Depeche Mode 101 and Grant Gee's Meeting People is Easy - a brilliant Radiohead doc. Here's the top 50 list -1 Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987)2 Don't Look Back (Da Pennebaker, 1967)3 Gimme Shelter (David Maysles/Albert Maysles/Charlotte Zwerin,
- 10/8/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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