The Man Without a Past
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Movie Reviews of The Man Without a Past
Movie Review: Love Story in Finland: Tender, Quiet, and Life-Affirming
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally America acknowledged the undeniable talent of this prolific Finnish director, Aki Kaurismaki, by giving this film Oscar nomination (for foreign language films). His acquired taste for droll, dead-pan humor is fmous among the fans; unfortunately some find it hard to savor the taste at first, but it will be infectious after several repeated watching. Plus "The Man without a Past" is a love story, too, and a good one. It starts with a middle-aged man at Helsinki station, where he is attacked by muggers. He loses his memories, and wanders in the city, looking for a help. The bureaucrats are not kind, but the people living in a deserted contanier by the port offers one, and he starts a new life. He just has to look forward.
And he meets a lady Irma working at the Salvation Amry (Kati Outinen, Kaurismaki's muse). She looks rigid in uptight uniform, but actually a kind of a woman who listens to rock'n'roll music at her apartment. The man and Irma fall in love with each other -- it's Irma's first love -- and the film follows the life of them (and those of other oddball characters) very tenderly.
To explain the plot itself is almost pointless. The charm of "The Man without a Past" comes to you when you realize that the apparently small things in life depicted here can be the source of happiness for the characters. Irma and the man are both ordinary people, to whom slight things mean a lot. And the subtle expressions of Kati Outinen perfectly conveys the sense of the blissful life even if you don't have much money.
The humor is eveywhere. with Kaurismaki's original touch. The hospitalized man (after mugged at the station) looks exactly like an "Invisible Man" with bandages all over his face (a sly mataphor); "The fierce dog" named "Hannibal" is actually a lazy pup who seems to refuse to bite; the bank robber is actually a kind-hearted guy whose motive for the crime is nothing selfish. And see the unique defence tactics of the lawyer at court. Thus, behind the story, you notice Kauismaki insert his commentary about the Finnish society.
But the film is a life-affirming love story, and best enjoyed as such. The ending is one of the best I have seen in love stories, and you will leave the theater quietly smiling.
Trivia: The Salvation Army manager/vocal of the band is played by Annikki Tahti, famous singer in Finland. The song you hear at the end of the film "Do You Remember Monrepos?" is her hit song in 1955.
Movie Review: Kaurismaki at his Best
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie reminded me quite a bit of "Ariel," one of Kaurismaki's older films, and I would say that "Ariel" and "The Man Without a Past" are the best of his films that I have seen.
Here, a man is mugged and severely beaten shortly after arriving in Helsinki. He suffers from amnesia and, without any identification, tries to survive as best he can without knowing his own name, let alone his social insurance number. He lives in a cargo container on the Helsinki waterfront, and ends up getting a low paying job with the Salvation Army.
He falls in love with one of the Salvation Army ladies (Kati Outinen, who starred in Kaurismaki's "The Match Factory Girl"), but things get complicated when he eventually learns his real identity. His newfound love seems in jeopardy as he leaves Helsinki for his hometown in order to see a wife who is a stranger to him, and who may or may not be happy to see him again.
I won't spoil the films ending by telling you how things turn out - but I will highly recommend this movie!
I've noticed that some reviewers seem to think that Kaurismaki is making a negative statement about Finland's economy, and I can see why they think so: Most of the Finns you see are living in dingy apartments, cargo containers and dumpsters. But Kaurismaki's films have almost always been about the lower class/lumpen proletariat, in the same way that Eric Rohmer and Whit Stilman make films about the bourgeoisie. In Kaurismaki's "The Leningrad Cowboys Go to America," he portrayed the U.S. in the same fashion, showing mainly rundown neighborhoods and the lower strata of American society.
Finns are known for their melancholy spirit (which some blame for their high suicide rate). It is something that one discerns from the books of Mika Waltari to the songs of Hector, as well as the films of Aki Kaurismaki. We see it in "The Man Without a Past," but I think that the real message of this film is one of hope: Even under the most adverse of living conditions, where one is without material wealth or even memories of the past, one can still find happiness in simple things like a glass of beer and a song on the jukebox, or from bigger things like the love of another.
Movie Review: A Finnish delight!
Summary: 5 Stars
THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST is a wonderful, lonely, and quiet film about M, a man who has suffered amnesia after being beaten and robbed while sleeping on a public park bench in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. He does not remember his name, or know anything about his past. But instead of going on a crusade to discover his true identity, he simply goes with the flow of life. After being pronounced dead at the hospital he wakes up in a deserted industrial area near the sea and is befriended by its local inhabitants. But M soon finds that his attempts to re-enter society is strongly hindered by the fact that he doesn't remember his name. Instead of being defeated M continues to go about living his life. He eventually rents an abandoned container car and plants a small vegetable garden outside his front door. M develops a new life while leaving the old one behind.During this film there is a lack of any type of facial expressions or emotions of the characters, even when they are speaking to each other. The dialogue is slow and serious and there is not much action involved. This is what makes THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST a truly unique film. Not many people would appreciate this film with the underlying humor and silences. There is little doubt that this is the best foreign film I've seen for some time. My only complaint about this DVD is the lack of special features. I would really enjoy listening to a director or actor commentary of this film. Regardless, this is an excellent film.
Movie Review: The adventure of living!
Summary: 5 Stars
A simple and middle class man is seriously wounded in the head and loses the memory due that fact. That twist of change will mean a slow reconstruction of the dispersed pieces of this complex puzzle: he reminds nothing, so he must survive against all the odds. Through the very personal style of Kaurismaki we'll be invited to watch as silent spectators of a hard portrait of search of an identity, an illusion and a reason to live. Since he gets a job, he will have a love affair with a mature woman. The fight for survive in the oppressive and hostile world, loaded of so may people who lives at the edge of the society where the loneliness adopts so many behaviors and attitudes. We will assist to a real parade of emblematic characters: from the corrupt office to the first man he knows after the incident; the man who has to steal the bank to pay his duties with his ex employers, and the musical band in search of best destiny, conform a sad and crude film that somehow revitalizes and gives us back with essential living values and a sharp reflection about facing the real world from a different perspective, so far but in the meantime so possible to repeat.
A winner film; its slow rhythm is not any obstacle if you read behind the script. Tender moments loaded with profound humanity sense.
Movie Review: Time Travel Starved of Myths
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not from Finland myself, but I have to say that this movie does not realistically describe Finnish society. Finland is probably the most "modern" country in the world when it comes to instrumentalities. Instead it is an exaggurated picture of a country that for 50 years has been balancing between East and West and landed on the West. It could easily been the other way around. And 99 minutes on a boat lies the grim reminder.Everyone I have spoken to about this film disagree with me, but I think this film is playing with time or epochs from 1945 until now. Back and forth, back and forth, like a bottle of Kosken being passed among friends.
On a deeper level, this is about Stalin and his refusal to let Finland accept any Marshall aid. This is history gone awry and dreams postponed. How can you keep your dignity when your neighbours are prospering while yourself is left outside the feast? How can you keep yourself sane between the birch and the wood? Give up! Be yourself and have the last word with style. Anyways, for me film is about entertainment, not for intricate BS analysis. This movie is highly entertaining.