The Man Without a Past (2003)

Markku arrives in Helsinki and is badly attacked. After his physical wounds have sufficiently healed he leaves hospital. However, he has lost his memory and as such finds it difficult to lead a normal life, finding it impossible to secure employment or a place to live. He encounters a number of characters, some helpful, others not so. The film ends positively with Markku becoming partners with Irma who he has met at the Salvation Army hostel and justice being meted out to the thugs who originally attacked him.A slow movie which gives us time to focus on the nuances and detail in the characters and situations. An appealing combination of black comedy and dry humour.

I was looking for foreign language movies to watch and came across this one. I checked the genre and it said 'Comedy-drama'. I didn't see even one ounce of comedy in this film. If this is comedy in Finland, I am never watching any Finnish movie ever again.The plot is good and they could have made a decent movie out of it. But what do we get instead? A load of trash. I need to know if people normally don't smile in Finland or the director has intentionally made the people not smile in the movie? The acting is the worst. No one even makes an attempt to bring justice to their role.They walk like marching. If two people are saying good bye, they either do an 'about turn' and walk away or a sharp right turn as if they are military men. I expected some kind of emotion when the man who robbed the bank settles the pay to his ex employees. All those employees acted as if it is nothing. They didn't even act surprised. Anyway, whoever sent this movie to Oscar must have sworn to destroy the name of Finnish Cinema. It is going to take years before I would even think about watching a Finnish movie.

If this was the first introduction I had to Finland's film industry - I probably would not revisit it. This actually is about the 8th Finnish film I have seen and some of them happen to be their submissions to the Academy Awards, If the Academy is saying this is better than Talvisota then I will laugh in their face - Talvisota is much more deserving of the nomination (just comparing this to my favourite Finnish submission to the Academy).Sorry for just yelling my head off at you people - it's just that this happens to be Finlands most overrated film (I have seen Tuntematon Sotilas - although I liked it, that was heavily overrated in Finland).As far as defining genre goes this is as mixed as mixed bags will get. This movie is unfulfilling when it comes to a comedy, it would have gotten a 1 if it didn't have any other genre though. As far as Drama films go - it is decent enough (although I prefer dark and grim dramas). Judged on a comedy: 1/10, Judged on a drama: 6/10.One of my other criticisms besides the overrating (I am NEVER going to let this drop) is definitely the endless soundtrack. There is NO SCENE IN THE ENTIRE FILM WITHOUT MUSIC PLAYING. I thought lack of music scores made movies slow - now I learn it is also on the opposite side of the scale too.If people are willing to defend the film (which to attack someone because they don't have your opinion is pointless) then look at these following Finnish films that are (in my opinion) superior: Jadesoturi (2006) (name one person who has made a movie like that), Talvisota (1989) (The most realistic War film I have EVER seen), Tuntematon Sotilas (1955/1985) (Both are very entertaining movies - even if the remake is incredibly slow), Sauna (2008) (it's a very interesting little art-house/horror film), Harjunpää ja pahan pappi (2010) (Crime/Drama/Thriller with possibly the best acting I have ever seen), Rare Exports (2010) (just appeals to the bizarre person inside me that wants to see a rather ingeniously written Psycho Santa - I should get out more).So I would recommend it to people who want to see the only Finnish film nominated for an Oscar - but that is about it.

I sort of stumbled on this, actually was looking for more crime fiction movies, which this got put under somewhere. And yet, I quickly got engrossed in this movie. I think it was because it showed the joy of 'small things'. A man gets nothing in the beginning but hard luck, and yet, you see the joy and humor in his life, and in the lives around him. I immediately became a Aki Kaurismaki fan, and now can't get enough of him. But for anybody who has not seen this one, find the joy of independent film making once again.From his hotplate when cooking, to his relationship with his 'landlord' I kept finding the humor addictive, and even romance, which I'll not spoil, but just to say that love exists in poverty and despair kept giving way to music and the comfort of another human being. To think that just smoking a cigarette, one of the few small pleasures the poor had been left with during the depression, became heartwarming...