The Man Without a Past
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Movie Reviews of The Man Without a Past
Movie Review: Quiet, Quirky and a Little Sly
Summary: 4 Stars
This Finnish film may not be for everyone. Though nominated in 2002 for an Oscar for best foreign film, I don't think it got much play here. It's a quiet movie about a guy who is beaten in a park in Helsinki right after getting off a train. The hospital thinks he's dead, but he staggers out, gradually recovers, and can't remember a thing. He meets a number of people, most of whom help him in some way or another. He meets a Salvation Army woman and a relationship developes.It's hard to describe this movie. The dialoque is often funny, but delivered absolutely deadpan. There is no excitement, but a rich development of story and relationships through incidents that happen to the lead character or that he causes to happen. The two leads, Markku Peltoa and Kati Outinen, are adults and look it. There's no Hollywood handsomeness about either of them. The structure of the movie is a gem of economy. One scene ends and the film moves briskly on to the next scene. No extended, unnecessary character development. No superfluous dialoque. It may sound pompous, but this movie creates at the end a nice feeling of mature contentment.
The DVD of the film is crisp and strong; an excellent transfer. There are no significant extras.
Movie Review: Great film by Kaurismaki
Summary: 4 Stars
One of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's minimalist humanist-mannerist comedy dramas. Here, a man arrives to Helsinki by train from the interior of Finland, and is soon beaten senselessly by some thugs in a public park. He wakes up at the hospital, with bandages round his head (a homage to James Whale's version of The Invisible Man, as some critics suggested?) and with a case of complete amnesia. He is soon called M (another homage to a 30s movie?). He goes on to live in a ramshackle house on the outskirts of Helsinki (I didn't know there was such poverty in rich Finland), working at odd jobs, meeting quirky people and trying to slowly remember his past. Among the friends he makes is a woman working for the Salvation Army (Kaurismaki's regular Kati Outinen, showing here a bit of age). The movie has a lot of the mannerisms of Kaurismaki's movies, but also its humanism. It is quirky, but compelling. Among the best work in Kaurismaki's already long career as a film director.Movie Review: salvation army in finland
Summary: 4 Stars
This film illustrates what I love best about being half finnish myself. Life in Finland is slow, people are taciturn and barely able to communicate. This shows the difference of Finland from the rest of Western Society - AND Eastern society. I think the music shows the minor key tone of living in the Northern climate, where the brain slows down to a crawl and survival means staying warm and dry against the odds. Knowing Finns as I have, I can understand why this movie is funny to them. Life plays out slowly and on a wave of timing that is unique. But they still manage to do the right thing - work, take care of each other and even fall in love.Movie Review: Not bad -before- going to Starbucks
Summary: 4 Stars
It's a fine artistic movie that has a real down-to-earth feel.
I have a habit loading up on caffeine before watching a show to "up" my attentiveness in hopes to get more out of a flick, but doing so before this particular piece left me feeling antsy. It has a pace that's good to watch after sitting on the pier all day watching the ships roll out and then watching them roll back in again.
Skip the Starbucks, eat your popcorn with a caffiene-free soda, and be sure not to be in a rush to go anywhere after the show and I'm sure you'll find this DVD rather enjoyable.
Movie Review: A charming story of a man who must start from scratch with the help of a few good friends, but the politics make me uneasy
Summary: 3 Stars
Aki Kaurismaki's 2002 film MIES VAILLA MENEISYTTA (The Man without a Past) has become the director's most successful film internationally. It's easy to see why. This story of a man who gets hit on the head in a violent mugging, loses his memory, and must survive in a cold world is fairly universal in its themes. While set in Helsinki, references to concrete places there are exceedingly few, and the movie's action could be unfolding almost anywhere. The visuals of the film, such as the charmingly incongrous set design blending the 1950s and the digital era, and the preference for sky blue among the colors will certainly please a wide audience.
What does keep the film exceedingly Finnish, however, is the deadpan humour. Foreign audiences are likely to laugh at some lines that are typical communication between Finns and miss some of the more subtle Finnish humour. There's also an attack on the Finnish welfare state, and it is for this that the film has always left me uneasy. In my years of living in Finland, I've never encountered cold, uncaring civil servants like Kaurismaki depicts. Police and city bureaucrats are, though slighly stoic in the Finnish manner, friendly and approchable enough. As Kaurismaki depicts a man reduced utterly by the uncaring State, I started wondering what exactly his agenda is. At times, MIES VAILLA MENEISYTTA seems to approach some kind of neo-liberal propaganda film, and without this the film would have been much stronger.