CANNES -- Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki is known for his wry, deadpan humor, off-center characters and absurdist tone. In Lights in the Dusk, the concluding film of his "loser trilogy" -- following Drifting Clouds and The Man Without a Past -- he has challenged himself and viewers anew. A lonely man's downward spiral of travails, for which he is blameless, is stripped to a minimalist emotional core: There are only a handful of locations and sets, few characters and even less extras. Plot mechanics are as rudimentary as a 1930s Hollywood backlot programmer. Characters are obvious, lacking in duplicity even when they aim to deceive.
Alas, Kaurismaki, who wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, also has stripped away any sense of purpose. Not that viewers won't "get" the film by the final scene; indeed those viewers got it by, perhaps, the third or fourth scene. Lights will put in more appearances at festivals before achieving a brief theatrical window for Kaurismaki devotees to gaze through. Most will do so with discouragement.
Kaurismaki compares his protagonist Koistinen, played with brave rectitude by Janne Hyytiainen, to Chaplin's Little Tramp. But the Little Tramp could be a cunning devil, never completely lacking in resources. Koistinen is nearly inert, letting evil events sweep him up without offering any resistance.
Koistinen is lonely. Every image screams this fact to you. His job as a security guard leaves him by himself for much of his work. He lives alone in a crummy flat, suffers ridicule with stoic forbearance and can't connect with anyone save for an empathetic mobile grill-stand lady, Aila (Maria Heiskanen), from whom he buys sodas and frankfurters.
A clumsy attempt to strike up a conversation in a bar with pretty blonde, Mirja (Maria Jarvenhelmi), gets her older "businessman" boyfriend (Ilkka Koivula) to thinking: Here is the perfect patsy to help him rob the shopping galleria Koistinen patrols. Mirja will be the lure to which he tumbles without a moment's thought.
With distressing ease, Mirja entices him to his doom, a couple of dates being all it takes for the crooks to rob the place and pin the blame on the guard. He even allows Mirja to plant evidence on him, leading to a prison sentence, since his sense of morality won't allow him to betray "his" girl. Don't you just want to kick the guy?
Scattered applause at the end of a Palais screening indicates some will indeed respond to this minimalist tale. But where Man Without a Past had deep reservoirs of feeling and an uncanny sense of humor, Lights just lays there, an object of puzzlement.
Timo Salminen's crisp, unblinking cinematography and the measured rhythms of Kaurismaki's own editing make the 78-minute Lights resemble a short story impressively told but essentially punchless in its emotional impact. The film's soundtrack is enlivened with songs by Finnish guitarist-songwriter Antero Jakoila, tango masters Ensemble Mastango and Carlos Gardel.
LIGHTS IN THE DUSK
Sputnik Oy/Pandora Films/Pyramide Prods.
Credits: Writer-director-producer-editor: Aki Kaurismaki; Director of photography: Timo Salminen; Production designer: Markku Patila; Costumes: Outi Harjupatana. Cast: Koistinen: Janne Hyytiainen; Mirja: Maria Jarvenhelmi; Aila: Maria Heiskanen; Lindholm: Ilkka Koivula.
No MPAA rating, running time 78 minutes.
Alas, Kaurismaki, who wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, also has stripped away any sense of purpose. Not that viewers won't "get" the film by the final scene; indeed those viewers got it by, perhaps, the third or fourth scene. Lights will put in more appearances at festivals before achieving a brief theatrical window for Kaurismaki devotees to gaze through. Most will do so with discouragement.
Kaurismaki compares his protagonist Koistinen, played with brave rectitude by Janne Hyytiainen, to Chaplin's Little Tramp. But the Little Tramp could be a cunning devil, never completely lacking in resources. Koistinen is nearly inert, letting evil events sweep him up without offering any resistance.
Koistinen is lonely. Every image screams this fact to you. His job as a security guard leaves him by himself for much of his work. He lives alone in a crummy flat, suffers ridicule with stoic forbearance and can't connect with anyone save for an empathetic mobile grill-stand lady, Aila (Maria Heiskanen), from whom he buys sodas and frankfurters.
A clumsy attempt to strike up a conversation in a bar with pretty blonde, Mirja (Maria Jarvenhelmi), gets her older "businessman" boyfriend (Ilkka Koivula) to thinking: Here is the perfect patsy to help him rob the shopping galleria Koistinen patrols. Mirja will be the lure to which he tumbles without a moment's thought.
With distressing ease, Mirja entices him to his doom, a couple of dates being all it takes for the crooks to rob the place and pin the blame on the guard. He even allows Mirja to plant evidence on him, leading to a prison sentence, since his sense of morality won't allow him to betray "his" girl. Don't you just want to kick the guy?
Scattered applause at the end of a Palais screening indicates some will indeed respond to this minimalist tale. But where Man Without a Past had deep reservoirs of feeling and an uncanny sense of humor, Lights just lays there, an object of puzzlement.
Timo Salminen's crisp, unblinking cinematography and the measured rhythms of Kaurismaki's own editing make the 78-minute Lights resemble a short story impressively told but essentially punchless in its emotional impact. The film's soundtrack is enlivened with songs by Finnish guitarist-songwriter Antero Jakoila, tango masters Ensemble Mastango and Carlos Gardel.
LIGHTS IN THE DUSK
Sputnik Oy/Pandora Films/Pyramide Prods.
Credits: Writer-director-producer-editor: Aki Kaurismaki; Director of photography: Timo Salminen; Production designer: Markku Patila; Costumes: Outi Harjupatana. Cast: Koistinen: Janne Hyytiainen; Mirja: Maria Jarvenhelmi; Aila: Maria Heiskanen; Lindholm: Ilkka Koivula.
No MPAA rating, running time 78 minutes.
- 5/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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