Aki Kaurismdki's Proletariat Trilogy [3 Discs] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The poignant, deadpan films of Aki Kaurismaki are pitched somewhere in the wintry nether lands between comedy and tragedy. And rarely in his body of work has the line separating those genres seemed thinner than in what is often identified as his "Proletariat Trilogy," Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. In these three films, something like social-realist farces, Kaurismaki surveys the working-class outcasts of his native Finland with detached yet disarming amusement. Featuring commanding, off-key visual compositions and delightfully dour performances, the films in this triptych exemplify the talents of a unique and highly influential film artist.

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 3
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Subtitle: Eng

AWARDS

• Berlin International Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 2010

• Moscow International Film Festival

•     Won Special Prize - 1988

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Kati Outinen - Iris
       Elina Salo - Iris's Mother
       Esko Nikkari - Iris's Stepfather
       Eetu Hilkamo - Riku
       Erkki Pajala - Kaivosmies
       Jukka - Pekka Palo - Third Man
       Outi Maenpaa - Workmate
       Marja Packalen - Doctor
       Klaus Heydemann - Worker
       Esko Nikkari - Autokauppias

• Director:

  Aki Kaurismäki

• Producer:

  Jaakko Talaskivi, Aki Kaurismäki

• Screenwriter:

  Aki Kaurismäki

• Cinematographer:

  Timo Salminen

• Featured Music:

  Dmitry Shostakovich

• Editor:

  Raija Talvio, Aki Kaurismäki

• Executive Producer:

  Katinka Farago, Klas Olofsson

• Set Designer:

  Pertti Hilkamo

• Costume Designer:

  Tuula Hilkamo

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Jouko Lumme

• First Assistant Director:

  Pauli Pentti

• Production Manager:

  Jaakko Talaskivi, Klaus Heydemann

REVIEWS:

• Aki Kaurismaki's Ariel is one of the prolific filmmaker's most accessible and satisfying films. As in his later international success, Match Factory Girl, Kaurismaki infuses a tale of desperation and woe with dry wit. Clocking in at a laconic 74 minutes, the film tells Taisto's (Turo Pajala) hard-luck story with exemplary economy. Ariel has a meticulously measured pace. It isn't exactly a laugh riot, but Kaurismaki's coldly comic set-ups eventually hit their mark like a slow-motion pie in the face. For example, there's a wry joke introduced in the first few minutes of the film involving Taisto driving across the freezing roads of Finland in a convertible with the top down that doesn't reach its genuinely hilarious payoff until close to film's end. There's a brief scene of comic violence, in which a gunman dispatches two foes with a single shot, which is cagily set up earlier in the film by a clip of Humphrey Bogart in High Sierra. Kaurismaki has a sly, deadpan comic perspective that's informed as much by his subversion of cinematic convention as it is by his appreciation for the more sardonic side of human existence. The amusingly glum performances he gets from his cast, including Susanna Haavisto as Irmeli, and especially Matti Pellonpaa as Mikkonen, add to the strangely entertaining pall that envelopes the film. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
• With its 70-minute running time and minimalist aesthetics, Aki Kaurismaki's The Match Factory Girl is so slender it barely qualifies as a feature. This downbeat tale of a homely girl looking for love and a life proceeds at a crawl, reflecting the drudgery of the working-class existence it documents. The quotidian drabness is perfectly visualized by Kaurismaki's economical camera work, which captures a decrepit city devoid of warmth and kindness. Focusing on a morosely timid girl, Kaurismaki constructs a world of almost unbearable meanness. Blithe cruelty abounds in this movie, from the oppression by the girl's mother and stepfather (reminiscent of a dark fairy tale) to her nonchalant rejection by a sleazy man who impregnates her on a one-night stand. The curious absence of compassion and redemption, coupled with the recurring theme of cash transactions, seems to amount to a political statement, evoking a world worn thin by an uncaring capitalist system. In its own miserablist terms, this unremittingly bleak work can be considered a success. Whether or not it is a success that audiences would want to subject themselves to is another matter. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi