Legendary Finnish Director A.Kaurismaki’s Masterpiece Comes To Lithuanian Cinema

http://www.delfi.lt/veidai/kinas/legendinio-suomiu-rezisieriaus-akaurismakio-sedevras-atkeliauja-i-lietuvos-kino-teatrus.d?id=51669009

www.DELFI.lt
November 11, 2011. 17:56

Acclaimed in Europe and the United States, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, after five years of silence, on November 18 presents to Lithuania his latest film work – the film "Le Havre". This year's Cannes Film Festival awarded this comic drama the International Federation of Film Critics Prize (FIPRESCI Prize 2011). The movie protagonist Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a former bohemian and struggling author, has given up his literary ambitions and relocated to the port city Le Havre. He leads a simple life based around his wife Arletty (Kati Outinen), his favourite bar and his not too profitable profession as a shoeshiner. As Arletty suddenly becomes seriously ill, Marcel's path crosses with Idriss (Blondin Miguel), an underage illegal immigrant from Africa. He is just a little boy who needs help from Marseille. "The cult Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki has fetched up with showing life optimistically. Not a single of his previous films has the ending like this one – that of a simple cherry tree in bloom, a need to love one’s life. Getting help from the Frenchman reveals to the refuge African boy that it is possible to suffer defeat in a bright way and to win in a miserable way. If earlier it was "I Hired a Contract Killer" (1990) that was considered as his best work, now "Le Havre" is rated so. The iconic author gives us a smile, and makes us smile, too. Respect for the master", Giedrius Zubavičius, representative of the film distributors and the founder of MA NO Films, commented on the movie. In 2009, Kaurismäki visited Vilnius and participated in the film festival of "Cinema Against Lies", held to fight for human rights. "I have filmed the whole of Finland, all of Helsinki, its every meter, every nook. Helsinki is so polished and clean – it’s not for me. I could take Vilnius. Surely there is something to show," commented the Finnish director Kaurismäki. Aki Kaurismakis regards the film made in French as the first part of his trilogy about port cities. Its other two films to be directed in the near future are going to be shot around Spanish and German port cities, and the director promises that they will be in local languages as well. "The competitive Cannes Film program is diverse, but its films are rarely described as a true pleasure. Aki Kaurismäki’s "Le Havre" is a rare exception to the Cannes pleasure department," – "The Hollywood Reporter". "It seems that the film belongs to another era: simplicity, easy breathing, careful editing and slow pace of leisure time is simply a protest against the digital and breathtaking speed of the world. The only mobile phone in the film is owned by the bad guy" – "The New York Times" movie reviews. According to Aki Kaurismäki’s interview to "The Huffington Post", one of the main roles in the film – that of immigrant Idriss, a young boy from Africa – was created by a young boy from Angola (Blondin Miguel|), whom Kaurismäki directed by means of eye contact, as the actor could not speak neither Portuguese nor English. "Eye contact is sufficient," – commented Finnish director Kaurismäki. A comic drama "Le Havre" will see Lithuania’s cinema screens on November 18. The film is off at "Forum Cinemas Vingis" in Vilnius.

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