(Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2006, 80 mins)
It comes off with a nice flavor, and then gives you a slight bite as it starts down the throat.
-- Vodka Rocks on Finlandia
******
As written, most Aki Kaurismäki films read like film noir. As directed, they play like deadpan comedy. Or comic tragedy. Lights in the Dusk follows that formula to the letter. It doesn't break new ground for this Finnish director, but if you're tuned into his wavelength, it's essential viewing.
If you're unfamiliar with his work, it isn't a bad place to start, although his latest concludes the "Loser Trilogy" that began with Drifting Clouds and The Man Without a Past. The themes are unemployment, homelessness, and loneliness. Since all three permeate his entire filmography, Lights in the Dusk works fine as a stand-alone effort.
Granted, The Match Factory Girl and Drifting Clouds are my favorite Kaurismäki films. Lights in the Dusk isn't as funny as the former or as heartfelt as the latter, but it's quintessential Kaurismäki. Like those films, it keeps you guessing from first frame to last. His pictures are always character studies, never conventional mysteries, but dialogue, exposition, and facial expression are kept to a minimum, so you never know what anyone's thinking. Nor can you predict what will happen next.
It's what I love best about his work. It's also why I don't think it matters whether you like his downtrodden characters or not. I suspect that he does, but he never goes out of his way to make them lovable, or to cast actors who seem desperate for approval. Kaurismäki seems more concerned that we find these individuals interesting, and it helps that he always finds the perfect actors to bring them to life. They're rarely conventionally attractive, but they are distinctive looking, which is convenient, as he's a big believer in the close-up.
In addition, Kaurismäki characters tend to address the camera directly when they communicate with each other. Although he's often compared to Jim Jarmusch, with whom he collaborated on A Night on Earth, it's a technique he also shares with Jonathan Demme (and I had forgotten all about that until I recently re-watched The Silence of the Lambs). It feels as if he's inviting you into their cigarette and Vodka-soaked world. It isn't a world I'd like to inhabit--those who aren't unemployed are stuck in dead-end jobs--but it's fun to visit.
Lights in the Dusk's anti-hero is bright blue-eyed Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen). From certain angles, he's the best looking man to grace a Kaurismäki film to date, but then you notice that everyone else towers over him. Whether he's short or they're tall makes little difference--Koistinen feels small. His particular dead-end job is security guard for a luxury mall. For some unexplained reason, his co-workers detest him, and Koistinen dreams of starting up his own company.
I love it that this hate is never explored. It's a classic chicken and the egg scenario: Do people dislike Koistinen because he's a surly cuss or because they're just bullies...or is it that years of bullying have turned Koistinen into a surly cuss? In any case, his fellow guards are a thoroughly unpleasant lot.
In real life, Koistinen would have some kind of hobby or interest--an outlet for his abundant frustration-but since he's trapped in a Kaurismäki film, he has nothing. Well, he often chats with the ponytailed Aila (Maria Heiskanen), who runs the neon-lit hotdog van near his block-like apartment building,
but that's about it, and he's almost as surly to her as everyone else. Almost.
Koistinen's life briefly brightens when bottle-blonde Mirja (Maria Järvenhelmi) enters the picture. It's clear she's up to something, but he either doesn't know or doesn't care--just as he's oblivious to the fact that Aila appears to have a thing for him. Koistinen meets Mirja at a coffee shop, strikes up a conversation, and that's it: He's in love. So they hang out. She is kind and attentive to him--even more so than Aila. As it turns out, she's setting him up to take a fall, but at least he gets to enjoy a little romance prior to his descent into Hell.
I got a kick, for instance, out of the priceless exchange that ensues after they take in a band one night. As Mirja watches hi-octane trio Melrose kick up a ruckus, Koistinen can't stop staring at her. He can't seem to believe his luck. Then, someone asks her to dance. Shortly afterwards, he takes her home. On the way, she offers to teach him to "rock and roll," i.e. to dance. "I know how to rock and roll," he states defensively. "I just didn't feel like it." Comfortingly, she notes, "It's easy to see you've got rock and roll in your blood."
And that will be Koistinen's last evening out with Mirja as he'll soon find himself in the slammer. At first, I thought Kaurismäki was aiming for Crime and Punishment-style tragedy, like Frozen City, another recent Finnish feature, but Koistinen really is an innocent. Or at least he isn't guilty of the crime for which he's been convicted. And even Mirja, despite her actions, appears to have a heart. She's just doing what she's told, which means she isn't the real villain of the piece--that would be her oily boss, Lindholm (Ilkka Koivula).
To say more would be to say too much. Lights in the Dusk is beautifully shot by Kaurismäki regular Timo Salminen. Most scenes take place at night, but the hi-def images are always clear and crisp. Helsinki rarely looks warm or inviting, yet the visuals appeal due to the clean compositions, sparkling lights, and bursts of bright color, heavy on the Edward Hopper-esque reds and greens. Like the man says above, it has "a nice flavor" and "a slight bite." A minor effort in Aki Kaurismäki's filmography, Lights in the Dusk still manages to intoxicate.
Lights in the Dusk opens Friday, Aug 3, for one week at SIFF Cinema (321 Mercer St). For more information, please call (206) 633-7151. Daily: 8pm / Fri: 8, 10pm / Sat: 2, 8pm / Sun: 2, 4, 6, 8pm.
Images from the IMDb (Janne Hyytiäinen), Strand Releasing by way of The New York Times (Hyytiäinen and Maria Järvenhelmi), Last.fm (Mika Tokela of Melrose), and Rotten Tomatoes (Hyytiäinen and Maria Heiskanen).
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