Drifting Clouds

1996 Aki Kaurismaki joint

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Middle-aged married couple Lauri and Ilona have financial trouble when they lose their jobs as a bus driver and head waiter in the same week. They do their best to keep their dignity and survive.

Man, I love this guy's movies! This is another fairy tale, a movie where life happens to some regular people but they come out ok in the end. There's just something about the simple style, the simple dialogue, and the simple stories in this Kaurismaki movies that make me so happy. As with the others, a lot of the beauty of this is in the fringe details, the kinds of things that no other director would draw attention to. I loved a scene when Illona took an order, opened a little window into the kitchen and hollered out the order, and then went into the kitchen to cook the food, all to give the impression (maybe even to herself) that she was working in a nicer restaurant. And I love how the husband, when despairing, would just walk into his house and fall face-forward onto the floor. They're sad situations, but they're situations you're allowed to laugh at because this is an Aki Kaurismaki movie and you know things will turn out just fine for the characters in the end. I also love the dialogue. A lot is said in very simple ways, but there's also a lot said when things aren't said at all, when Kaurismaki's long shots extend a little longer than they're supposed to, like in the scene where Lauri buys a color television and they just sit there staring at it even though it's not turned on. This was supposed to star my favorite actor, Matti Pellonpaa, but he died during pre-production and was no longer able to do it. Aki-regular Kati Outinen (Shadows, Match Factory Girl, and The Man without a Past) is in this though. I like her. She's strange looking in a strangely appealing way. Maybe it's an acquired taste because the more I see her, the more attractive I think she is. It's a shame that this guy's movies aren't easier to find.