Hope gleams through the gloom of everyday lives portrayed in Aki Kaurismäki’s latest feature film Fallen Leaves. It is human-loving, compassionate, and heart-wrenching in its storytelling simplicity.
As delicate as ever, Aki Kaurismäki’s latest feature film Fallen Leaves tells the simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming love story of grocery store employee Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and metal rust cleaner Holappa (Jussi Vatanen).
Seemingly existing outside of time, though constantly mentioning the war in Ukraine, the character’s routine creates a vivid yet dark atmosphere that shows the relentless side of living, and how even simply trying to exist doesn’t always leave enough room for relationships.
The simple overall plot, minimal dialogue, and the intended nearly expressionless acting all create a very gentle palette over which Kaurismäki is able to construct actions-based moments that tell a well-known ballad in a louder than words, pierce through your heart, excruciatingly humane kind of matter. I have never seen shattered hope expressed better than when Ansa, who purchased a single plate and a single set of cutlery for their first date, tosses it away right after the date comes to an abrupt end. And still, the film manages to also create comedic moments alongside its heartfelt ones.
This style of storytelling is clearly not for everyone, but I personally find myself relating better to characters and stories that are not just taken out of our everyday lives, but are also told in the same style – living is rarely as thrilling and exciting as is usually portrayed in most films, and letting living itself become the main attraction simply warms my heart.
It is a chocolate praline wrapped in a trash bag. Kaurismäki’s love for all human things beams through the gloom lives people lead. His stern belief in hope is clear in his choice of film for the character’s first date – Jim Jarmusch’s poorly received film The Dead Don’t Die – perhaps saying that even this film still can, and should be, celebrated – just like all lives should be.
The review was written by Illy Levi , in collaboration with Itamar David Leshman.
