The Man Without a Past
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Movie Reviews of The Man Without a Past
Movie Review: Man Without A Past
Summary: 5 Stars
While my Finnish film viewing experience has been quite limited to this film and The Cuckoo, so far I have to give two thumbs up to the Finnish film community. Sparse dialog often done in a rhetorical fashion delivers this film about a man who has forgotten his past and how he embraces his new life. Beautifully done with a very Modernist approach to representing life. Subplots: romantic relationship and rock-n-roll.Movie Review: True Finland.
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have not been in Finland, this movie will not make you to go there. If you have been in Finland, this will show you some more of it. Hidden places around and inside lost finnish man. Movie is great, but it is not for everybody. Just like sauna with subsequent dip into ice-hole. If you prefer shower instead, this one is not for you.Movie Review: Quietly Rediscovering Life
Summary: 4 Stars
A man (Markku Peltola) develops nearly complete amnesia when he is beaten and left for dead shortly after arriving in Helsinki. After being nursed back to health by a poor but generous family, he must make a new life for himself without the benefit of anything to start with. His lack of identity proves to be an obstacle in this increasingly bureaucratized world. But his spirits are lifted when he meets as falls in love with a Salvation Army worker (Kati Outinen) who has helped him."The Man Without a Past" is the second film in director Aki Kaurismaki's "Finland Trilogy". (The first was 1996's "Drifting Clouds".) I am not sure of the precise time in which the film is supposed to take place, but it looks like the 1950's in costumes and cars, and also in the characteristics of the film stock. The colors in "The Man Without a Past" look a lot like Technicolor. The recent Hollywood trend to revive old cinematographic techniques and approximate old film stocks seems to have traveled beyond the borders of the United States -or maybe it started there. And why not, as still photographers have never hesitated to use archaic methods or materials if it would give them the desired result . I'm all for it in motion pictures if it adds something to the story, and here it does. "The Man Without a Past" is a quiet film about mostly quiet characters, both literally and figuratively. The characters speak very little, and when they speak it is frequently in vague terms. Funny lines are always delivered completely deadpan. But I wouldn't call the film pretentious. It's as low-key as its subjects. It's just about a man rediscovering his identity and a joy for life, and finding a place for himself for a second time, at a much later point in life than we usually do these things. Many movie goers will find "The Man Without a Past" too uneventful, but if you'd like a quiet, almost delicate, film with a good-humored outlook, this is a good one. Finnish with English subtitles. The DVD allows you to turn the subtitles on or off, but there are no bonus features.
Movie Review: Stoic
Summary: 4 Stars
I have never knowingly been aquainted with a Finn but I have known a Basque. Those two cultures are known for various attributes but stoicism is a trait they share and one that stands out because it is so unique. I had to keep reminding myself of that while watching "The Man Without a Past". I realize that there is an element (intentional or otherwise) of "black humor" in this film but I fought the tendency to jusge it as black humor because it said so much more just taking it straight. Emotions aside (is that the National Motto of Finland?) what takes place in "The Man Without a Past" says a lot about many things. I was reminded of the first half of B. Traven's "The Death Ship" when following the trials and tribulations of a man with no name (and, naturally, no ID). However, what touched me most was the story of a man who could rebuild his life completely from scrath with no prior memories that could influence your choices. What would any of us be if we could restart our life at middle age. There are many other compelling issues that are brought out by the events that take place in this film but I enjoyed not knowing what would happen next so I don't want to give anything away. Not that there's a great big surprize at the end but the director (and writer?) Aki Kaurismaki gives us a lot to consider with the various directions his film takes. What I took from "The Man Without a Past" was the concept that we are all good people who have been molded by events and surroundings. We become so reconstructed that it seems nearly impossible to just be ourselves anymore. "The Man Without a Past" hints that nonetheless it would still be nice to try.Movie Review: Socialist Nightmare
Summary: 4 Stars
Americans tend to be ethnocentric, watching the latest American pulp, slasher movies, teen movies, or Harrison Ford's latest yawner, but turning their noses up at foreign films, too much trouble to read captions as they flash across the screen. The Man Without a Past is a Finnish film by director Aki Kaurismaki. Though Finland is the home of Nokia cell phones and the region about Helsinki is prosperous, this film deals mostly with folks that have fallen through the cracks of an indifferent socialist government. They live in abandoned trailers and shacks in the industrial port area with daily treks to the Salvation Army soup line.
Markku Peltola plays the welder away from home, mugged upon arriving in Helsinki. He recovers, but his memory of whom he is is gone. Since he has no name to give the authorities or possible employers, they want nothing to do with him. Consequently, he falls back on the kindness of fellow hobos and the Salvation Army woman, Kati Outinen. Their awkward romance blooms to a full-scale love affair. The Salvation Army band, under Markku's management, they become a clunky, but successful rock venue. In fact, Markku's world becomes much more interesting in time, as the man without a past overcomes all obstacles, a rebel against a drab European Socialist nightmare.