Okay, so I watched another Aki Kaurismaki movie, this one Le Havre, made in France with Jean-Pierre Leaud in a minor role. The story of Marcel Marx, a failed writer turned shoeshine man. While his wife is in the hospital he helps a tweenage African boy who was among a group of refugees smuggled into the country in a shipping container.
Like The Match Factory Girl in style. There was nothing documentary-like about it. Every scene was well lit, every shot well-composed. It looked beautiful. In that respect, it reminded me of The Man with a Rifle, the 1938 Soviet film I posted about a few days ago.
The movie was more like a fable. The people in the neighborhood and even a local detective conspire to protect the kid. It was a little too much. I won't tell you the ending, but I think it tried to make the kid into a Christ figure but in such an understated way, it didn't pull it off.
Available along with a few other Kaurismaki films and music videos on Filmstruck which will close up shop on the 29th of this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment