Drifting Clouds (1996)

"Life is short and miserable. Be merry while you can."I hope that every sad loser in life and every person who is kind but is faced with tremendous misfortune has a happy ending.This film is dedicated to Aki Kaurismäki's most prominent collaborator and friend, Matti Pellonpää, who was supposed to reprise his role in Shadows in Paradise in this film, which was meant to be the sequel.He died of a heart attack and was only 44. Maybe, after all, Aki Kaurismäki's cinematic lens pale in comparison to real life's tragedy.

absolutely flabbergasted !!! that's about sums up my feeling when I first saw this. This was probably the turning point movie for me in dwelling into Nordic films - and what a start.I had to see it again. The blank expressions initially was distracting but in fact there's a lot of expression. The little waiting moments too and so is the dog!!! Now I'm writing from recollection from more than 10 years ago, so maybe somethings maybe amissed. But the feeling (especially of fleeting hope - the ending- in tough times) imprinted by tone and images are that strong!!! Then I started to try Icelandic film - first one was Cold Fever. Also Bent Hammer's films, and the likes of Green Butchers, the Bothersome Man... these are films of a different world almost. But somehow they speak much about loneliness, in a surreal realistic way.Later on Aki came out with the 2nd and 3rd installments too in which there's another unforgettable funny scene in the Man Without a Past that is just as indelible.This is not a real review but a more a look back to the stick in the sand marker on my starting point toward Nordic Cinema.

What I particularly like about this film are its colourful settings, suggesting a Helsinki less grey and damp as portrayed in other films. The screenplay, the acting and the directing are precise, which is the main reason why this sad story is really a comedy. The story is very clear and therefore not boring - a quality not applicable for every Kaurismäki film. Yet Ilona and Lauri's fate is surely not a classic example for what happens to Finn worker couples today, I think the bizarre surroundings underline the whole film's quirky and slightly absurd mood.This is the best Kaurismäki film I've seen up to now.

To truly understand and appreciate Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds)you need to understand something of the Finnish mindset, and to understand something of the Finns I would recommend this film. Kaurismaki is able to encapsulate and embody the Finns and Finland in his work. I have lived 10 months of my life in Finland, and I was therefore able to identify immediately with this film through my experiences of Finland and the Finns themselves (my dear friends there). This film captures the sense of space that Finland itself has, the sense of space that the Finns create around themselves (Finns appear to me to be somewhat unseasy with urban and city living, hence everyone's desire to escape to a kesamokki, summer cottages at the earliest possible time) and the understated, no-BS nature of the Finns themselves, it is the only country I know where it is truly possible to have confortable silences when conversing with people.Silent despair, brought on by the extremes of the climate, Finland's relative isolation, the social problems that DO exist there (despite being a Scandinavian country with all the images of a freedom and social support that that may conjure), the expectation of conformity that exists within such small societies, and yet the strong innate desire of every Finn to truly assert an individual identity over within the framework of this 'organised freedom' are all apparent in this film and are how I observed Finland. The 'national' sport of drinking until one passes out, particularly during the dark days of winter, and when coping with depression or despair. To any Finns out there, this is not meant to cause offense, my apologies if these comments do.Kaurismaki's use of long shots and one takes for a sequence of action (or non-action), and the sense of time and anticipation that they create, until you realise that the anticiption amounts to nothing, which is so in line with the Finnish sense of humour. It is always difficult to generalise about a particular nation and make sweeping statements that are meant to be applicable to all who live within the confines of those national boundaries. But as a small country (in terms of population) with a closely homogenous people, these traits are quite discernable, especially with the impact that the environment and climate brings...Drifting Clouds and the Leningrad Cowboys are two sides of the same coin...I make this disclaimer, the film is actually gloomier than life there.