Les feuilles mortes

A film brimming with charm, thanks to its human characters, struggling in their own way to make a living. She's a cashier, moving from job to job. She owns her own apartment. He's a manual laborer who works in a factory, but drinks. And he goes from job to job. They cross paths. They're both alone. They're drawn to each other. Girl meets boy. Boy meets girl. They're both shy. But there will be grains of sand in the mechanics of their relationship. Aki Kaurismäki doses the construction of this couple perfectly.

Aki Kaurismäki sprinkles his film with references (Jean-Luc Godard, George A. Romero, for example). The result is a short film, and all the better for it. There are no unnecessary sequences here. There's no extra-diegetic music. Without going too fast, Aki Kaurismäki builds the love story between the characters. A film to warm the heart.

Ansa has been fired after the sell by, working in a supermarket time don't fly by, now she's lost and all alone, at least she has her little home, but she'd like to have someone, to share good times by. Holappa has been fired because he drinks, kind of guy who's world's eroded and just stinks, but he's fallen for a girl, it's put his head into a swirl, although the way things seem to go, you'd think he's jinxed. It's a story of two folk that come together, amid the backdrop of a war that seems to tether, as they do their best to miss, the opportunity for bliss, and start to live their lives, combined together.

..not with the movie, but with another seeker. That seems to be the main idea of Kaurismäki's movie Fallen Leaves.

Life is hard and monotonous. It's also petty, particularly when you're on low wages. So find someone to squeeze. Have a go at a bit of solidarity too.

Ansa and Holappa are both working annoying jobs in modern day Finland. They listen to news of the latest atrocities from the Russian army in Ukraine, they have a cigarette or a swig, they sit in unhappy bars, they struggle with their bosses, they are lonely. They admire the cinema.

Some of the vignettes are well informed about poverty, earlier in my life I worked in a supermarket where we would be in trouble if we took out-of-date food, even though we were hungry and were being made to throw it in the bin. The bosses' view was that we would deliberately let things go off, or over prepare fresh food if we were allowed to take the out-of-date food away. When we have money we take for granted things like internet access, when you don't someone will gouge you for a few minutes access.

Spend some time with someone who catches your fancy, use some energy to not mess it up. There's no sex in the movie and I quite like that in a society that over-fixates on fetishized addiction sex. Sometimes it's just lovely to have company, to talk and listen to music, just to feel their presence. Wouldn't you like a person round the house oh lonely cinema goer?

Finland's official submission for Best International Film. Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (LE HAVRE, MAN WITHOUT A PAST) has been making his special brand of movies for some four decades now. FALLEN LEAVES is one of his best. Sporting his usual low key approach with clipped dialogue and an icy wit on par with a Scandinavian winter, Kaurismäki's latest takes the basic form of Romantic Comedy, but, of course, filtered through his sensibility.

A pair of lonely-hearts, Ansa (Alma Poysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), meet 'cute' at a Karaoke bar. Naturally, it isn't love at first sight, but, soon the resistance breaks and they go through the process of coming together, obstacles getting in their way and, eventually, fall in...well, sorta... - it's a Kaurismäki film.

What works so well here is the screenplay. Kaurismäki seems to have dissected his dialogue down to its most essential words. There isn't any excess. Nothing is said that doesn't need to be*. Yet, it remains a witty delight. The actors are on the same page and deliver their lines with essential succinctness, while never interfering with their physical performances - which are also spot on. Kaurismäki's genius is that even with so little said (or done), one still gets a full sense of his characters' lives. Oh, and the whole thing, including credits, is 82 minutes long.

The 66 year old Kaurismäki pays tribute here to Directors with their own inimitable style with references to Godard, Bresson and Jarmusch (stay tuned for the final kicker, which is a perfect capstone). He also uses pop tunes as a fine accent and amusingly names mundane drab holes in the wall joints with exotic monikers like Cafe California and Cafe Buenos Aires (not to mention warmer, too!).

On the surface FALLEN LEAVES may appear 'slight' - but, it's more meaningful than at first blush. It's a delightful film from a true original.

* In many ways, FALLEN LEAVES is a perfect film to introduce those with a hesitance to subtitles, since the dialogue is so sparse.

For anyone who has never watched a Finnish comedy before, you may struggle with this one. The humour is a level more subtle than British comedy, so don't expect big slapstick laughs. The humour in Fallen Leaves lies mostly in the delivery from its characters, very understated and at times in contrast to the situations they find themselves in. Romance can come in many different guises and this film really showcases that. There are no grand sweeping gestures from our protagonists, instead just small moments and offerings; a cinnamon bun, a cup of coffee, a meal thoughtfully cooked. It's also desperately sad at times (I won't divulge why and give any spoilers) but I believe it opens up at the end to true optimism. Very unique little film in today's industry.