Le Havre

It took me a long time before I got used to Le Havre’s storytelling style. Kaurismäki combines Finnish people’s nature and French environment in a special way. Nobody is talking idly here, quite the opposite. The ending itself earned another star for this film, because I would expect such a beautiful, human and sincere ending perhaps only from a pure blooded French film. It is visible that the director took only the best from both and I was satisfied with the result. Seen based on the Challenge Tour 2015. (20.04.2015)

Ein sehr angenehmes, finnisch lakonisches und französisch charmantes Sozialmärchen mit einem sanften Sinn für Humor und überraschenden sarkastischen Details der Figuren. Ein altmodischer Film, mir wurde warm ums Herz. (10.07.2011)

And they lived happily together. They lived long, too long, and when they died once, they were happy again because Aki Kaurismäki did not make a film about life, but a fairytale, and as in a fairytale, it has to end like that. But yes, Aki made a beautiful film, terribly pleasant and with a slightly sentimental mood. But precisely this beauty and all-encompassing positivity don't suit me, and after long consideration, I have to only give it two stars. I used to give Kaurismäki reliable 4 stars for his earlier films, and since then, he certainly hasn't forgotten how to make them, rather we have stopped spiritually understanding each other. Perhaps it is related to how much he has deviated from real life and started to escape into a naive constructed world. Perhaps he is even directing better than before, at least he has, as a favorite hard worker of festival programs, better access to finances and distribution networks. But as I said, his way of thinking is getting further away from me all the time. In his previous film, he confronted me with possibly the least likable main character. For example, Micmacs, just like Jeunet's masterpiece Amelie is, of course, also a fairytale, but a stylish, crazy fairytale filled with so many ideas that would be enough for another director's lifetime output. On the other hand, Le Havre is a fairytale full of banal, minimalist dialogues and is somehow boring with its gloomy sentimental mood. I'm thinking in vain about why Kaurismäki uses quality theater actors when, with his well-known "minimalism," the same thing could be acted by street performers, and Kati Outinen was annoying to me for the first time in my life simply through her presence and with that drooping chin. Because Kaurismäki is getting older, and his core group of actors is aging with him. Well, at least I can see a picture of my future... Overall impression of a truly beautiful and positively tuned humanistic film: 40%. (01.01.2012)

I can't help it, but this movie simply didn't impress me. Aki Kaurismäki is an interesting author, but this film seemed somewhat empty to me, even though it tries to present itself as something about something. Or maybe I simply refused to give it as much attention as it deserved. However, I just don't see reasons for superlatives. (12.04.2016)