'Fallen Leaves' Review: A Precious, Wry Finnish Rom-Com For the Introverts | NYFF61
NR
Runtime: 1 Hour and 21 Minutes
Production Companies: Sputnik Oy, Bufo, Pandora Film
Distributor: Mubi
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Writer: Aki Kaurismäki
Cast: Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen
Release Date: November 17, 2023
Only in Theaters
Enough with American cinema! It's time to broaden our horizons! There's no better place to watch peak international flicks than the New York Film Festival, where films that played at Cannes hit our Big Apple screens. Most are official contenders for representative countries fighting for the Best International Feature Oscar slot. Finland's submission, Fallen Leaves, comes from beloved filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, whose works I've never seen. Before my NYFF screening of his Cannes 2023 Jury Prize-winning flick, I discovered the Finnish filmmaker's forte was telling intimate, slice-of-life stories focused on working-class characters—specifically, in a Proletariat series. Fallen Leaves is the fourth in his saga, following Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl, all released about 33 years ago. Now that he’s brought his working-class cinema to the 21st century, Fallen Leaves got me wanting to check out his catalog, and I hope it's as adorable as his latest film.
In present-day Finland, two lonesome people, Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), are stuck in dead-end jobs. Ansa works as a zero-hour-contract supermarket grocer. Holappa works on a construction site. They meet by chance and instantly connect. Following a lovely first date, a string of unfortunate obstructions—a lost phone number, neither party knowing the other's name, and Holappa's grade-A alcoholism—prevent them from reconnecting.
Ansa and Holappa's meet-cutes will appeal to introverts because they're neurodivergent AF. But the moment they meet, Kaurismäki wastes no time striking their romantic tension, playing with the laws of attraction and their shared desire for companionship. Who can blame them for desiring joy when Kaurismäki paints his Finnish setting with dreariness? The town barely gets any sunshine, the people all look miserable, and the only thing on the radio is news updates about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Even a karaoke bar, where the leads first cross paths, lacks liveliness. With how dreary his interpretation of Finland is, their romance is like fresh water in a desert. Once sparks fly on a spontaneous date for coffee and a movie (one of the funniest scenes), you can't help but root for these cuties to get together.
Much praise should go towards Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, who render their characters with genuine sincerity. On their own, they're miserable, but together, they naturally play off each other with effortless charm despite the little dialogue they share. Their brief moments together get them out of their depressive shells.
For a film that clocks in at 80 minutes, the dry hopelessness within the Finnish underbelly benefits the pacing and your investment in the leads’ romance. With its tragicomedy identity, Kaurismäki adds an exuberant comedic soul with heavy deadpan and dark humor that'd make Aubrey Plaza smile. The pacing may be slow, but the laughs are plenty, given its dry and witty humor. Sometimes, the comedic beats veer into absurdity while frolicking in irony, only strengthening an offbeat identity. In its direct approach to working-class mundanity, the rom-com beats sometimes play as a satire to the genre. The film's poster—the two sitting in a theater—is funnier once you discover the context of what movie they're watching on their date.
Holappa continues the path of Denzel Washington in Flight, Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round, and Helga's mom from Hey Arnold! as the latest devastating portrait of a pathetic drunkard. While initially played for comedic effect, Holappa's alcoholism quickly becomes no laughing matter. From adding alcohol to his coffee, taking swigs on the clock, and hiding bottles in a control panel box at work, Jussi Vatanen powerfully plays this pathetic character. With Holappa's arc, Kaurismäki raises awareness of the country's ongoing alcohol abuse in low-income regions. Today, it's become one of the most significant causes of death. As objectively sitcom-ish as his actions seem sometimes, Vatanen adds a subtle coat to his portrayal, never playing up his character's prominent flaw.
The worst of Kaurismäki playing with his puppets’ fate is how often he emphasizes the tragic side of the tragicomedy. The structure operates under a "one step forward, two steps back" mechanic. It's similar to how its Cannes/TIFF selected peer, Robot Dreams, was repetitive with its hopeless factor, lessening the impact of its big swings. It's ridiculous how often their ships pass in the night before you'd like to get up and scream, "Well, get on with it already!"
Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen's adorable chemistry made all its romantic beats come alive. As depressed introverts who find love in a hopeless place (but make it Finnish), Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves is a precious, modern rom-com with dry wit and sincerity in its outlook on the welfare of Finnish culture.
