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Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy (Shadows in Paradise / Ariel / The Match Factory Girl)
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Genre | Comedy |
Format | Box set, Color, AC-3, NTSC, Multiple Formats, Widescreen, Subtitled, Dolby |
Contributor | Matti Pellonpaa, Aki Kaurismaki, Kati Outinen |
Language | English |
Number Of Discs | 3 |
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Product Description
Product Description
The poignant, deadpan films of Aki Kaurismäki 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, Kaurismäki 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.
Amazon.com
Editors of the Eclipse series appear to taking some critical political stances these days judging from their selection of Aki Kaurismäkis Proletariat Trilogy as follow-up to the equally dour Larisa Sheptiko boxed set. Whereas Sheptikos films portray Soviet soldiers and workers toiling in war-ravaged Russia, Kaurismakis films are set in and around bleak working-class neighborhoods in Helsinki, and star characters who resort to lives of crime because it is impossible to make ends meet. However, similarities between the directors more or less stop there. Kaurismakis more modern social critiques mercifully employ deadpan humor to rescue the viewer from utter hopelessness and to shield one from the bitterness his characters suffer. Like Robert Bressons films, Kaurismakis rely upon understated acting and long scenes in which the camera hardly moves, to allow plot development that is slow, emotionally resonant, and ultimately realistic. His three films included here are mid-career works that share basic plots and even actors, though, of course, each film merits close viewing. Shadows in Paradise (1986) is the oldest film, and sets in motion the archetypal tragic character who tries and fails at earning money honestly under depressed economic conditions. Opening with shots of dumpsters being emptied during a snowstorm, one senses instantly that Nikanders (Matti Pellonpää) life may be the ultimate drag. When his partner invites him to start a new company, using the slogan "Reliable garbage since 1968," and Nikander replies, "But thats now," it becomes clear that neither he nor his peers are extremely bright. His new girlfriend Ilona (Kati Outinen) leads an equally dreary life as a grocer, and the pace speeds only slightly. Not until Nikander meets Melartin (Sakari Kuosmanen) in prison does one experience his adventurous side. Similarly, Ariel (1988) opens with a wry scene starring Taisto Kasurinen (Turo Pajala), a Finnish coal miner who witnesses his fathers suicide after his father wills him a fantastic vintage car. Taisto, dreadfully impoverished, leaves for the city, where he meets Irmeli (Susanna Haavisto), a kind-hearted woman who doesnt necessarily have ambitious taste in men. As Taisto digs himself deeper into trouble with the law, no thanks to his friend Mikkonen (Matti Pellonpää), Irmeli chooses loyalty over protecting her son from a man who is ultimately a criminal.
The most compact and stylistically impressive of Aki Kaurismäki's perversely minimalist Finnish comedies, The Match Factory Girl stars his blond, blank-faced Garbo, Kati Outinen, as a downtrodden factory worker whose attempts to discover love and companionship are constantly thwarted by her possessive parents and a succession of cloddish, exploitative men. Kaurismäki's deadpan style--the carefully inexpressive acting, motionless camera, and rigidly geometrical compositions--avoids both sentimentality and sarcasm. Although the girl's plight is taken seriously, there is something in the extremity of the situations, and in the lovingly depicted hideousness of her Helsinki home life, that is irresistibly comic. Inspired by the Tiananmen Square uprising, the match factory girl resolves to take a revolutionary stand, arms herself with a packet of rat poison, and sets out for revenge. The video includes an equally hilarious music-video rendition of "Those Were the Days" by Kaurismäki's house band, the Leningrad Cowboys. In each of these films, the director relies on the publics understanding of poor economy to order empathetic viewing. If one doesnt prescribe to blaming government for societal hardships, his characters seem pathetic and borderline idiotic. This gray area between sympathy and contempt is Kaurismaki territory, and viewing his films reminds one how the personal is political. --Trinie Dalton and Dave Kehr
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
- Item model number : CRRN52DVD
- Director : Aki Kaurismaki
- Media Format : Box set, Color, AC-3, NTSC, Multiple Formats, Widescreen, Subtitled, Dolby
- Run time : 3 hours and 35 minutes
- Release date : September 23, 2008
- Actors : Kati Outinen, Matti Pellonpaa
- Subtitles: : English
- Studio : Criterion Collection
- ASIN : B001BEK8F6
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 3
- Best Sellers Rank: #74,618 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #791 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #8,583 in Comedy (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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He tersely depicts frugal pursuit of happiness, often resulting in miserable failure, as is usually the case in our real life, in simple story-telling with few words (lines). I am one of Japanese who love minimalism. I have read that Kaurismaki is interested in Japanese culture. You may notice Sushi is served in the train in THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST with a Japanese song in the background. I have also seen LIGHTS IN THE DUSK and DRIFTING CLOUDS. I wanted to see more of his works and bought this collection (SHADOWS IN PARADISE, ARIEL and THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL)
So far, I rank THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST as his best and ARIEL, his second. I later found out that this is the Vol. 1 of his collection and Vol. 2 and 3 are available only in PAL version. With a universal-type DVD player for NTSC/PAL in all region codes, now in my hands, I ordered from Amazon UK Vol.2 (DRIFTING CLOUDS, TAKE CARE OF YOUR SCARF, TATJANA and JUHA) and Vol.3 (CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, HAMLET GOES BUSINESS and LA VIE DE BOHEME) in PAL version, to be delivered in about two weeks. Then, I may be able to tell which is the best among his 11 works. - over-
Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy (Shadows in Paradise / Ariel / The Match Factory Girl) For me, the Trilogy is perfect filmmaking--sad, humorous, ironic, dead pan, sometimes with a happy ending. I don't want to go into any detail, one can read the description for that. The Trilogy is emotion-driven, which is the type of film that I gravitate towards, serious but w/an underlying sense of humour. If you like Jarmusch, John Lurie, Wayne Wang, maybe even Hal Hartley... you will LOVE this. There are "on and off" box-sets, and this one is on on on. 5 stars, no kidding.
But is it too much to hope for the rest?
I'll light some candles and do a jig (or better yet, a tango) and see what happens...
No culture is more taciturn than that of the Finns.
These films appeal to fans of Mamet scripts that are slowed down, and to fans of Jim Jarmush films.
Jarmush much admires Kaurismaki, and the last episode of his movie "Night on Earth" is a tribute to the director.
If you liked "The Man With No Name" you will like all three of these movies, although for me they are much better, as they are earlier and more simplistic films where "less is more" is well demonstrated.
You probably will dislike these films if you disliked the Oscar nominated "The Man With No Name".
In all of his movies, the story and actors move slow, yet beautifully, in their workers' "low" blue collar world.
Excellent use of color keeps the environment from being visually depressing, and subtle and consistent humor gives hope and uplifts these romances...
yes..all three are romances.
Top reviews from other countries
If I believed in mandatory viewing this is one of the trilogy's you had have to watch.
Kaurismaki's vision is stunning.
One of the most important present day directors and don't get fooled by his reluctance to speak anything but finnish.
This is magic.