All About Aki

So, back in 2011 when I was trying to decide the topic for my BA dissertation, I realised that, despite being Finland born-and-raised myself, I had never been terribly familiar with Finnish cinema. After quite a lot of brainstorming and researching I decided to look at the cinematic work of Aki Kaurismäki and explore the ways in which he views his native Finland, its culture and its people, or at least how it comes across in his films. (Also, one of the reasons why I decided to opt for a Finland-related post now is that thanks to this incredibly annoying COVID-19 situation it looks like I won't be able to visit the motherland until end of summer so consider this as a way of easing the home-sickness.)

When looking into Kaurismäki's philosophy, I began to spot some similarities between his and mine approach to our beautiful homeland. He has a very ambiguous relationship with Finland (as do I) and appears to practice what he preaches in his films, 'fleeing Finland results in happiness and better things'. I mean, I love Finland to bits and am very proud to be from this land of thousands of lakes (55,000 to be exact) but I definitely appreciate it more when I'm not there - so it works best for me to love Finland from afar!

"I spend half the year in Portugal growing grapes, making wine and then drinking it; this does not mean that I do not love Finland. Even if you love your native country, a small holiday from it... like a lifetime... does not do any harm." - Aki Kaurismäki, 2006

This particular type of thinking is arguably reflected in his films, all heavily criticising the Finnish society, culture and its values whilst still depicting the warmth that exists underneath. That's definitely one of the reasons why I like his films so much - they have the ability to dig deep into the Finnish

psyche, not shying away from showing the nitty-gritty while maintaining the tongue-in-cheek humour that makes it all work.

Kaurismäki's funniest jokes tend to be the most painful ones and even at their saddest and most despairing, they contain glimmers of hope. His 'Proletariat Trilogy' also known as the 'Loser Trilogy', consists of Varjoja Paratiisissa (Shadows In Paradise, 1986), Ariel (1988) and Tulitikkutehtaan Tytto (The Match Factory Girl, 1990). The films focus on the under classes of late 1980s Finland and survey the working-class outcasts of his native Finland with detached yet disarming amusement. The films tend to make a joke out of the extremity of the economic situations they depict. They feature the idea of escapism - all suggesting that the late 1980s' Finland was something to find a way out of, be it fleeing off to another country or even being imprisoned as in Tulitikkutehtaan Tytto.

Kati Outinen in Tulitikkutehtaan Tytto (Aki Kaurismäki,1990)

The films of this trilogy share a lot of similarities and the main protagonists are almost identical to one another; lonely, working-class underdogs of few words in search of love and a steady job. His characters are often removed from the mainstream, in some cases to the point of being isolated and completely alone; occasionally they take to the road, roaming across rural landscapes of frozen Finland. The cinematography of the films works to emphasise the characters' isolation from the society - they are often positioned within the frame on their own. Minimalism has somewhat become Kaurismäki's trademark, counting on creating a cinematic empty space around the protagonists, where they are allowed to emerge as the vocal points of the imagery.

Ariel tells the story of Taisto Kasurinen (Turo Pajala), a miner from the north of Finland. It deals with his misfortunes when he is made redundant from his current job. He decides to leave for Helsinki in search of a fresh start and a better life. Once again, Helsinki is seen through the eyes of the outsider as a hostile, liminal space, filled with hamburger shacks, industrial sites and nameless streets. The city displays its dark side when Taisto is mugged upon his arrival, resulting in him losing all of his savings and ends up spending his nights at a homeless shelter in the heart of a strange city. According to Kaurismäki, Ariel is dedicated to the memory of the Finnish reality; apparently the Centre for the Development of Tourism tried to end his career forcefully as, according to them, he was creating a falsified and negative depiction of Finland. In Kaurismäki's opinion, his films provide a beautiful picture of Finland; a more beautiful picture than it actually is. Personally I feel that Kaurismäki's films have a specific layer attached to them that particularly appeals to native Finns - almost like an inside joke that is very specific to the ins and outs of Finnish culture. Even though his approach to the Finnish culture appears rather negative and heavily placing critique, there is without a doubt still a sense of warmth attached to it.

Ariel (Aki Kaurismäki, 1988)

Kaurismäki's films undoubtedly critically question the state of contemporary Finland and at times, even ridicule it but perhaps the beauty of it lies in the roughness that he depicts. He shows things as he sees them; beautiful, ugly people in a beautiful, ugly country.

"Most likely they have died of cold and hunger far away there in the middle of the forest." - Sergianne Golon, Countess Angelika

This 'uplifting' quotation taken from the beginning of Tulitikkutehtaan Tytto works to set the tone for most of Kaurismäki's films - particularly that of this one. Its approach is rather dystopian and hopeless and the profound emptiness is more emphasised than in any of his previous films. The non-communication of the prototypical Kaurismäki character is here taken to new heights, even within Kaurismäki's minimalist cinematic universe, as the film contains only approximately 20 spoken lines in total - most of which are not more than a few words long, arguably referring to the Finnish custom of not wasting words when they are not needed, a theme that seems to run through most of his films. This approach could be seen as serving to extend even further the typical deadpan, minimalist delivery of dialogue seen in his films. The characters tend to speak in an extremely formal and blunt fashion, kirjakielellä, as we would say in Finnish. Back when I was working on this dissertation and going through a lottttt of Kaurismäki's work, my brother was returning from Africa and dropped by Liverpool to visit me for a few days on his way back home to Finland - we ended up watching Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past, 2002) which is one of my absolute favourites, and throughout his visit we had a lot of fun talking in the same fashion as they do in the films, which brought a lot of absurdity into normal, everyday situations much like the dead-pan humour delivered by the dialogue brings balance into severe situations in his films. For example, when M (Markku Peltola) is negotiating the rent with a security guard who is making an effort to be threatening and authoritative, M's responses to the threats water them down. So when the security guard tells M that he's going to send his killer dog to bite his nose off if he doesn't pay the rent, M responds that his nose has only caused him trouble anyway.

The using of the very formal language supports the inexpressive style of acting often found in the films, and some critics have found this style 'irritatingly artificial'. Kaurismäki has defended his linguistic choice rather strongly;

"The only stable, enduring and indivisible thing we have in this country is the Finnish language. It is perhaps the only area where I am patriotic. And the more I am criticised for using a formal style of language, the greather the mathematical certainty that I will use it. If people cannot understand their native language, they can go home." - Aki Kaurismäki

Kaurismäki's films are definitely very centred around what it is to be a Finn and to live in Finland - the warmth within the society is often shown to stem from within the working class and the so called outcasts. A lot of the times, the alienation experienced by the main characters becomes the unifying factor, bringing them closer together and thus it is seen as more of a positive force than a negative one. The Finland Kaurismäki depicts is one of rough and raw beauty, often highlighting the coldness of the Northern winter and the isolation that one might feel even within an urban setting. Kaurismäki has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the transitory nature of contemporary society, many of his films could be seen as aiming to capture the past as it is about to disappear. Repetition and identity, rather than novelty and difference define the style of his films, they have the tendency to regularly repeat formal elements within a single film, elements from previous films and from other filmmakers' cinematic repertoire.

Kaurismäki has never been one to hold back from voicing his opinions, be it about Hollywood or contemporary Finland. He has stated that 'the more pessimistic he feels the more optimistic his films should be'. According to him, 'when all the hope is gone, there simply is no reason for pessimism'. This brings us to a funny thing that happened when my mum and I went to see Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011) in the cinema and we had been discussing Kaurismäki's films a lot and the fact that most of them tend to have quite a bleak ending. So when we were sat in the cinema I noticed that my mum kept squirming in her seat and seemed extremely restless throughout the entire film and it turned out that she was expecting for the film to end miserably but funnily enough, this was one of the few Kaurismäki films that actually had a fairly happy ending. So I feel partly at fault for ruining the experience for her as I had been going on about the bleakness that Kaurismäki masters at portraying, so it was a bit of a shock that this one didn't follow that pattern. (I guess this means that in Kaurismäki's opinion the world is in a very bad state...)

Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011)

A common trait running through Kaurismäki's entire repertoire is blending national content and international form. His style of filmmaking is highly influenced by European filmmakers but still stays true to depicting his own version of Finland on screen. He has very much discussed his love-hate relationship with Finnish culture in his films and his contradictory view of life has prevailed all through his career. Beneath the gloom beats an optimistic heart and even at its worst, with a drink in hand, it all might go down just a bit easier.

"Life is too sad to bear and there is no hope for anyone. So, now, let us drink to happy endings. And let us at least die laughing." - Aki Kaurismäki, 2011

Cheers to that! // E