L'homme sans passé

This film is about as fast paced as Finnish films get, I guess. Don't look for a lot of facial expressions and a lot of overt body language because you ain't gonna get it. The film moves slowly like a Saami joiking in the sauna but it wonderful to behold with each deliberate step it takes. The characters may seem a little stiff to those of us unfamiliar with the inscrutable Finns but the great Finnish reserve which overlays the story line is tweaking at our whiskers at every shuffle forward in the story. It is really amazing that we have not seen other Finnish works before. This kind of off-the-wall story which has a wonderful basis of humanity underneath the more real than life characters clustered around a site with little or no conveniences of modern living in their sea container households. The odyssey of M who wanders through his voyage in search of himself only to be reconciled not with his long suffering and long awaiting Penelope but with a frustrated but good-hearted Major Barbara.

There are lots of puns visual and otherwise with the threads of incompetent cops, doctors, nurses, employment office workers interwoven with a comical wannabe bad-guy overseer, a rock'n roll Salvation Army band, a torch-songstress SA Major and the philosophical hero who honestly can't remember.

Check this one out without fail. It's pure fun...but just don't expect it run along at breakneck speed ala Hollywood...!

This is the first Aki Kaurismaki film that I have seen and it is the second film in a trilogy. I definitely want to see the first one now and I plan on seeing the third whenever it comes to my neck of the woods. Film is a very simple story of a man (Markku Peltola) who while waiting for a train goes to a park and falls asleep on a park bench. Three thugs come along and beat and rob him. He is so beaten that when he wakes up in a hospital he has amnesia. We never do find out his name! He leaves the hospital and has no where to go. A very poor family living in a metal container take him in and try to help him. He goes to the Salvation Army for free food and an opportunity to work small jobs and its there that he meets Irma (Kati Outinen) and is attracted to her. The film follows this man as he romances Irma and works odd jobs. Its all presented in a very dry and droll comedic fashion. All the characters are very emotionless no matter what the circumstances are and in some ways its reminiscent of the films that Jacques Tati use to make. In one scene in a bank a robber enters and shoots a broken security camera and the teller and our protagonist all act very calm and very polite. At the heart of this film is even though the characters are very quiet they are very helpful of one another and seem to care for each other. I have heard that all of Kaurismaki films are like this and its been nicknamed "Aki's world". Kaurismaki is a very unique filmmaker and the way he presents his characters is in contrast to the bleak area that they live in. Even though the film and the characters are laid back in their attitude, the romance between the man and Irma shouts of passion. Their affection and fondness for one another doesn't need words. It rings loud and clear!

I am not familiar at all with the work of this director at all so I was unsure what to expect from this movie when seeing it as part of the Regus London Film Festival on tour.

I needn't have worried. This film is very touching and in many places laugh out loud funny. The scene where the dog is introduced is just side-splitting.

The humour is so dry and it is very hard to compare this film with many other films, but for some reason it reminded me a little of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen, especially some of the colours in the set design.

I understand this film is the second part of a trilogy? I simply have to see more stuff from this guy, I feel like I have missed out in a big, big way!

If you get the chance, don't hesitate to see this film, it is simply a work of art. I for one will be going to see it again when it goes on general release next year.

Whoever has seen any of Aki Kaurismäki's films might agree that they are all but mainstream. Nevertheless, the story itself doesn't have to be too complicated. In this case, a man completely loses his past in a shockingly violent way, and he rediscovers life again in an environment of bums who sleep in containers. The good thing I found about this movie was: No romanticism of misery, no enlightenment of the tortured hero, no sob-stuff love story, no superfluous, aloof intellectualism at all. At least not in an obtrusive or overly serious way. But in a way that it sometimes shocked me , sometimes made me laugh, sometimes grin. I was never bored. And as I made it to Finland for the first time in my life a few weeks after seeing this movie - I found everything to be amazingly authentic.

A remarkable film that definitely moves into my shrine of the best 50!

I've watched this twice now, and throughly enjoyed both viewings, finding this film to really be a unique one. It's a Finnish film, which is unusual to start with, at least here in the U.S. because we don't see too many films from Finland. It's a black comedy, meaning deadpan looks with subtle comedic lines. In English, it's titled "The Man Without A Past."

The main actor, Markuu Peltola, is perfect for this movie with one of the most deadpan faces you'll ever see. He is amazing to watch and Kati Outinen, as his love interest, is similarly strange and fascinating. Part of their charm are their unusual looks. This is not a romance between people who look like your normal handsome film stars.

Simply, this is just something very different from anything you've seen, a combination of drama, comedy and romance with some of the strangest dialog I've ever heard on film. If you appreciate dry humor and a bizarre but touching story, you should see this.