UNDER THE WELFARE TREE: My Quick Review of Aki Kaurismaki's FALLEN LEAVES

2023 seemed to be a big year for films revolving around two main stars at very tentative and pivotal moments in their lives: Past Lives, Rye Lane, and Fallen Leaves all seem to fall in this category.

I first saw an advertisement for Fallen Leaves via an arthouse theater screening that was occurring here in New York a couple of months ago, but what really shocked me was how much some of the photo stills provided actually pulled me in to wanting to learn more about the film.

Aki Kaurismaki is arguably the most well-known Finnish filmmaker...and if I may be so candid, I am not even sure if I know more. Even amongst Kaurismaki's filmography, I have only seen 3 of his other films: 

1986's Shadows in Paradise

1990's The Match Factory Girl

2011's La Havre

One of the major things I recalled about Kaurismaki was that his style could be that of a Scandanavian Jim Jarmusch (which is particularly humorous considering a Jarmusch film makes an appearance within Fallen Leaves) or perhaps that of early Coen Brothers. He also doesn't try to give his films any more than what they need to get their point across. Of the three films I mentioned above, La Havre was the longest at just over an hour and a half. The other two ranged around an hour and ten minutes.

Fallen Leaves settles in at 80 minutes...and it does move at a leisurely pace, not that it is a detriment. 

We begin with Ansa (Alma Poysti), a supermarket employee who is working on a zero hour contract and is promptly fired when she is spotted giving away old groceries to others in need and also stealing a sandwich for herself. She eventually finds another job as a recyclable plastic sorter. 

We then meet Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), an alcoholic sandblaster who happens to cross paths with Ansa and after going to see The Dead Don't They (the Jarmusch film I alluded), they kiss and she offers him her number...which he accidentally loses upon her departure. 

Fate manages to bring them together again, and this time they try to form a relationship with one another...but Ansa does notice Holappa has an issue with drinking, which proves to be the first hurdle. 

Prior to watching Fallen Leaves, I checked out the film's profile on both Rotten Tomatoes and Letterboxd. The critics' rating on RT is a whopping 98% while the score on Letterboxd is 3.8/5...but if you look at the Audience Score on RT, it is a 55%.

This is an area where I begin to think a lot about the idea of art being subjective. Looking at a film like this, which is very slow paced and meandering despite its only 80-minute running time, I can see why many would watch it and think that it doesn't have much to offer. On top of that, there is the ever-pesky roadblock for those who don't want to read subtitles.

Kaurismaki, as I mentioned before, does not try to stretch his films out as if to try to act like his stories need to be told for 2+ hours to seem more prestigious. There is truly something refreshing about watching a film and seeing it not try too hard and yet, it manages to still soar despite how little it is seemingly doing.

It certainly helps that Poysti and Vatanen both make for a truly alluring duo in their own rather meek and subtle ways. To only add to that alluring appeal is the film's visual style, with gorgeous lighting which gives us small splashes of color mixed in shadows. It almost feels like Kaurismaki never felt compelled to move on to more advanced filming equipment and wanted to stay forever in the 70s or 80s. Even though the film is set in the present day (with repeated references to the Russia/Ukraine conflict), it almost feels like it was plucked from the past even more so than something like The Holdovers tried to achieve. 

Kaurismaki's work often shines a lot on people who are on or near the poverty line...but the stories are often told in such a quietly comedic way that borders on dry that you find yourself feeling very endeared to the people even though we are often left with some distance. He gives the people enough dignity that we root for them...and we want to see Ansa and Holappa be able to work through their issues. 

One might say that the distance that Kaurismaki has will leave us feeling uncaring, but somehow, I always find the humanity there. 

Fallen Leaves is likely my favorite of the films of his I have seen, but that is irrelevant here. I just appreciate how much it made me think about films speaking to me without having to do anything bombastic. Not every film can pull off something so quiet and subtle without having the risk of being dull; it is a recipe that is very delicate and complex.

My rating for FALLEN LEAVES is: 

9.5/10