After Drifting Clouds (1996) and the Oscar-nominated The Man Without a Past (2002), Aki Kaurismäki ends his "losers" trilogy with what appears to be his most cynical film to date.
Lights in the Dusk (the Finnish title, Laitakaupungin valot, is inspired by Chaplin's City Lights) is a quite unusual Kaurismäki movie, mostly because of the absence of his regular acting ensemble (the exception being Kati Outinen in a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo, reminiscent of Shadows in Paradise). In fact, the leading thespian is the rather unknown Janne Hyytiäinen, who had a minor role in The Man Without a Past. He plays Koistinen, a lonely, naive night watchman with no social life. The only "real" relationship he has is his friendship with the female owner of a hot dog stand, but then again it's all limited to small talk about how boring his life is. Imagine his surprise, then, when one night a woman decides to keep him company in a cafè (when told she sat next to him because he looked lonely, the night watchman's priceless answer is "And now what? We're getting married?"). Overenthusiastic, Koistinen asks this lady out and brags about his "luck" with the hot dog woman. If only he knew, poor fella: his "girlfriend" is actually connected with the Russian underworld's Helsinki branch, and the only reason she's dating the unlucky fool is to help her superiors frame him for a crime. You can imagine how things go from this point on.
Lights in the Dusk is all we could expect from Kaurismäki, but fails to reach the levels of previous masterpieces for two reasons: first of all, the whole thing about a guy being sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit sounds all too familiar (Ariel, anyone?). In addition, there are moments where the director's pessimism gets too frustrating for the audience, as he seems to have no intention of making his antihero's situation a little more bearable.
That's why we're caught completely off guard when he finally offers redemption and hope, all made more effective by the extremely bold decision to save it for the very last shot. His intriguing analysis of solitude, expressed through many beautiful symbols (the abandoned dog above all), climaxes into one stunning, undeniably powerful image, the best ending the Finnish master has ever come up with. For that shot alone, Kaurismäki deserves universal plaudits.
Lights in the Dusk (the Finnish title, Laitakaupungin valot, is inspired by Chaplin's City Lights) is a quite unusual Kaurismäki movie, mostly because of the absence of his regular acting ensemble (the exception being Kati Outinen in a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo, reminiscent of Shadows in Paradise). In fact, the leading thespian is the rather unknown Janne Hyytiäinen, who had a minor role in The Man Without a Past. He plays Koistinen, a lonely, naive night watchman with no social life. The only "real" relationship he has is his friendship with the female owner of a hot dog stand, but then again it's all limited to small talk about how boring his life is. Imagine his surprise, then, when one night a woman decides to keep him company in a cafè (when told she sat next to him because he looked lonely, the night watchman's priceless answer is "And now what? We're getting married?"). Overenthusiastic, Koistinen asks this lady out and brags about his "luck" with the hot dog woman. If only he knew, poor fella: his "girlfriend" is actually connected with the Russian underworld's Helsinki branch, and the only reason she's dating the unlucky fool is to help her superiors frame him for a crime. You can imagine how things go from this point on.
Lights in the Dusk is all we could expect from Kaurismäki, but fails to reach the levels of previous masterpieces for two reasons: first of all, the whole thing about a guy being sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit sounds all too familiar (Ariel, anyone?). In addition, there are moments where the director's pessimism gets too frustrating for the audience, as he seems to have no intention of making his antihero's situation a little more bearable.
That's why we're caught completely off guard when he finally offers redemption and hope, all made more effective by the extremely bold decision to save it for the very last shot. His intriguing analysis of solitude, expressed through many beautiful symbols (the abandoned dog above all), climaxes into one stunning, undeniably powerful image, the best ending the Finnish master has ever come up with. For that shot alone, Kaurismäki deserves universal plaudits.