“Fallen Leaves”, all of Aki Kaurismäki’s humanity in a film full of emotions
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It was one of the most eagerly awaited films of the Festival and it did not disappoint: we are talking about “Fallen Leaves”, the new film by Aki Kaurismäki, who returned behind the camera six years after “The Other Side of Hope”.
The Finnish director tells the story of a man and a woman who meet one night in Helsinki. The two have difficult lives, marked by hardship and precariousness, but their meeting will be the beginning of a story that will help them to love again.
Fourth chapter of films dedicated by Kaurismäki to the theme of the proletariat, after “Shadows in Paradise” (1986), “Ariel” (1988) and “The Match Girl” (1990), “Fallen Leaves” is a very delicate and tragicomic love story perfectly in line with the Scandinavian director. Increasingly essential and minimalist, the Finnish author’s style is always aimed at constructing the best images to frame his characters: the cut is often pictorial, so much so that it recalls the paintings of Edward Hopper, as well as the choice of lights and colors staged.
The quotes
Kaurismäki offers many quotations in his film, including one for his friend Jim Jarmusch, whose latest feature film, “The Dead Don’t Die”, is shown in a cinema. The tributes then go to the past, with various references to the beloved Robert Bresson (master of that minimalism of which Kaurismäki is today one of the greatest disciples), to Jean-Luc Godard and a magnificent, poetic and exciting one to Charlie Chaplin, who has always one of the director’s great inspirations. “Fallen Leaves” thus touches very deep chords, showing the difficulties of the world of work and telling of a universe where the chilling news of the war in Ukraine is constantly heard on the radio. Despite the setting full of dramatic elements, Kaurismäki always finds the right irony, managing to give life to a very human and exciting film. To be rewarded.
Firebrand
Rather disappointing, however, is “Firebrand” by Karim Aïnouz, also presented in competition. At the center of the film is Catherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII, as well as the only one who died after him. Completely submissive to the wishes of her despotic husband, the woman hopes to one day be able to improve her difficult condition. A female rewrite of the famous historical story, “Firebrand” is a costume film that fails to shake as it should. overall it is too monotonous to be able to at least involve and there is not the shadow of an artistic flash to remember: it is soon noticed how the film is a little homework discreetly performed in the staging which however completely lacks a truly noteworthy cinematic breath. The representation of Henry VIII is saved, very well played by Jude Law, while Alicia Vikander in the role of the protagonist is decidedly out of character. In his first attempt with an English-language production, the Brazilian director seems rather bewildered and it’s a real shame, given how much he had moved and excited us with his previous “The invisible life of Euridice Gusmão”.
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