Possibly Aki Kaurismaki's most action-filled spectacle! Within the first five minutes of this film, an explosion happens, a gun goes off, and a man is mugged--all more action than all of the other Aki Kaurismaki movies I've seen put together. That said, I am coming from the perspective of a person who has seen other Kaurismaki films--people coming into this from other perspectives would react more to the deadpan and flat nature of it, unless they were familiar with Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch, two people obviously inspired by this type of movie.
Ariel is quite honest, hilarious, and hopeful all at the same time, despite it's aloof and deadpan nature. At the moment when the woman asks the man, "My husband left us, will you leave?" and he says, not missing a beat to think, "I'll be with you forever", neither without blinking or emoting, you nevertheless know that they are not lying and fully mean everything they say. A movie about bad luck, not bad people, Ariel somehow mixes hopes and dreams with squalor and poverty without once falling into maudlin sentimentality. It's almost uncanny, if for the fact that it is in no way unfamiliar.
I can see why this one is the movie that got Kaurismaki his international recognition. It meets the viewer half way, providing something fun to look at with meaningful, witty storytelling while providing a nice alternative to the schmaltz of most Hollywood movies and the dramatics international audiences seek in the art house circuit.
--PolarisDiB
Ariel is quite honest, hilarious, and hopeful all at the same time, despite it's aloof and deadpan nature. At the moment when the woman asks the man, "My husband left us, will you leave?" and he says, not missing a beat to think, "I'll be with you forever", neither without blinking or emoting, you nevertheless know that they are not lying and fully mean everything they say. A movie about bad luck, not bad people, Ariel somehow mixes hopes and dreams with squalor and poverty without once falling into maudlin sentimentality. It's almost uncanny, if for the fact that it is in no way unfamiliar.
I can see why this one is the movie that got Kaurismaki his international recognition. It meets the viewer half way, providing something fun to look at with meaningful, witty storytelling while providing a nice alternative to the schmaltz of most Hollywood movies and the dramatics international audiences seek in the art house circuit.
--PolarisDiB