Pidä huivista kiinni, Tatjana

Caught this on Moviedrome a couple of years back and watched it again recently. Kaurismäki's direction is ahem, directionless and very minimal. The two males are boorish; the two Russian girls more expressive and fun-loving. Coffee and vodka are two addictions 'suffered' by Tatjana and Valto.

There is love of sorts found at the end for Tatjana and Reino. Whether or not this savage plot twist will surprise us viewers or not matters little. Beautiful and bleak with a fantastic soundtrack, "Take Care..." is a film that says absolutely nothing but does so with style.

5/10

The Finnish infant terrible returns to the monochromatic rock'n'roll vibes of his earlier CALAMARI UNION, only this time he substitutes the avant-garde surrealism with the silent, deadpan minimalism he meticulously cultivated for most of his career. Two thirty-something rockers working menial jobs and leading dead-end lives embark on an impromptu journey in their cool car, along with a coffee-car mixer and a portable record player. Along the way they meet two Russian women who are looking for a lift.

TATJANA is part road movie, part romance, both done in Kaurismaki's distinct, ever so enjoyable and relaxed, quiet way. The black and white cinematography is absolutely fantastic, the soundtrack as usually an eclectic mix of rock'n'roll, jazz and folk and the mood of the same deadpan unaffection that permeates the rest of his work. His characters cold and detached on the outside, yet they miraculously emote better than the best overacting could afford you.

Clocking at only 59 minutes, TATJANA doesn't so much feel as a fully-fledged movie as a broad stroke. Seen independent it's one thing; seen as part of Kaurismaki's broader universe, like another vignette of gloomy but not miserable Finnish life, it takes its proper place. See it in a double-bill with CALAMARI UNION or ARIEL.

Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki is up to his usual deadpan business with one of his most enigmatically-titled features, Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana, a title which remains a mystery, to me at least, long after the credits have rolled. Shot in black-and-white, the film appears to be Kaurismaki's version of a road movie, often resembling the early films of Wim Wenders, such as Alice in the Cities and The American Friend, although the influence of Jim Jarmusch can also be felt throughout. As is often the case with Kaurismaki, dialogue is delivered with little emotion and passion, story is an afterthought, and the main characters are what many people would refer to as losers. Still, even with all the restraint on show and a running time that that barely touches the hour mark, this is one of the director's funniest features, and certainly one of his most relatable.

We open with Valto (Mato Valtonen), a huge doorstop of a man who resembles Eugene from The Walking Dead with an even more ridiculous haircut. He seems to run a clothing business with his mother, and when parent and son have a tiff over the lack of coffee (he has a serious coffee addiction), Valto locks her away in the cupboard and heads for the auto garage. Here he hooks up with his vodka-swigging friend Reino (Matti Pellonpaa), who has just finished work on Valto's car, and the odd couple head out on a road trip with seemingly no destination in mind. They stop at a bar and are spotted by Russian Klavdia (Kirsi Tykkylainen) and Estonian Tatjana (Kati Outinen), who see these two miserable-looking Finns as their free ride to the harbour for their journey home. And so begins one of the cinema's strangest road-trips, which mainly consists Valto and Reino sulking and ignoring their guests, even when they are forced to sleep in the same room.

Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana may frequently surprise those not accustomed to Kaurismaki's distinct auteur style. Not in a dramatic sense of course, but in the way it refuses to veer off into more comfortable genre territory. You keep expecting Valto and Reino to break their silence and start a romance with their new lady friends, but despite the presence of some romantic undercurrents, these men remain a mystery. This doesn't mean that they're unrelatable however, as anybody with the slightest social anxiety will recognise the awkwardness of their interactions, and get a good laugh from it. There's actually more going on here than I realised before reading up about the film after it had finished. Kaurismaki layers this incredibly slight tale with satire and social commentary, but this will fly over the head of most non-Finns such as myself. However, this doesn't dilute the sheer joy to be had with Tatiana. If the characters in Alexander Payne's Sideways were introverted and shy, it may have come out something like this. This is a low-key pleasure and surprisingly upbeat for Kaurismaki, and proves that happiness can be found in unhappiness.

After seeing this movie I wondered how foreigners would experience it. Without knowledge of the social history of Finland in last century this movie must seem very strange. And if you know nothing about our civil war and the division of society these characters are devoid of meaning. Just two avoidant personalities, maybe? However from a Finnish perspective this is the perfect description of the outsiders of our society. The fellows who are left behind, but don´t agree with that viewpoint themselves. Who are stranded in the no-man´s-land between urban success and country desolation. They try to get along somehow and when they meet two Russian girls it´s the irony of fate staring them in the eye. The Russians are able to surpass social barriers without flinching, they just go on and talk, but these two Fenno-ugrian oedipal conflict prototypes can´t seem to find some meaning in this. Instead they resort to sulking, one of the basic Finnish social coping skills. What else can you do when you´ve got nothing in an otherwise expansive society, when there´s this huge discrepancy between your own success expectancies and reality, and when you watch the grandchildren of the victorious side in the Civil War pass you by. Not much, according to Kaurismäki who manages to make movies about that part of Finland that never goes to movies. For a Finn, the music is lovely as usual, the kind of music we grew up to after the war.

i really love this movie. it has so many unique and wonderful characters. every one celebrates his individuality. so many bizzare gadgets: a built in vinyl record player for cars, a coffee machine also in the car to ease one of the main characters need for the black drink (when there is no vodka around). a finnish road movie. slow pace, but lovely mood and the will to survive through the darkest night. very recommended. enjoy your life as long as you can and try to watch this movie before it ends ...