‘Maybe my films are not
masterpieces, but they are the documents of their time. That’s enough for me. Masterpieces
I can’t do- even though I try.’
Kaurismaki’s second film of his
‘Loser or Helsinki Trilogy’ is not only the best of the trilogy but also one of
career best. It has almost everything that you expect from Kaurismaki film-
taciturn characters, working class milieu, dry humor and than it has something
extra- a sincere unadorned art of moving story telling like those adorable minimalist
humanitarian documents of two great Masters- Ozu and Bresson. Amid all grim and
unfavorable circumstance, it conveys the hope as some sort of inner strength to
survive against all odds. The film is touching love story between two equally
good at heart, noble lonely souls who are perhaps made for each other to
survive in otherwise grim backdrop of crime and poverty.
A man arrives in a city by train
and within hours severely beaten by street hooligans. He gained consciousness
but lost his memory. Helped by a working class couple, he started surviving his
new life in a dingy container. He encounters a lonely, reticent social worker
helping the poor working class people and soon formed a close bonding of love
and affection with her. But his accidental involvement with crime and finally
his past confronts with his struggling but content life.
Though it doesn’t have glamorous Hollywood stars, eye candy locales and hackneyed
melodrama that audience love to see time and again; it has something so natural
and effortlessly human in portrayal of two protagonists. The film focuses on
basic goodness of human beings in larger scale. There’s not a single character
which is absolutely dark here. For example even that bank robber old man later
proved to be a helpless gentleman of his words; except those three street
hooligans who get their due finally towards the climax.
Somewhere I read that greatness
of the film lies in its scenes which stay with you for long even after the film
is over. There are many such scenes in the film- some so sublime and controlled
one like one when the man walks the lady her home for the first time and steals
her kiss, some so ironical and funny at the same time like that babbling legal
arguments between the lawyer and the cop in police station. The one surprisingly
refined and memorable one was his encounter with his wife and a stranger. The
film so movingly captures the human essence with the theme and plot of struggling
identity and existence in pendulum as the film begins and once again when it
comes near to its end.
Highly recommended one.
Ratings-8.5/10
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