It’s such a special feeling when you encounter an artist that perfectly meshes with your tastes. It was unsurprising to learn that Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki has influenced Wes Anderson’s work, not in style but in tone — though the pastel color palette and his penchant for a good needle drop suggest there may be some stylistic influence as well. Kaurismäki’s deadpan comedic sensibilities, the way his characters are emotionally guarded to hide deep pain, and the bittersweet emotional resolution all scream Anderson.
Kaurismäki’s new film “Fallen Leaves” is an anti-romantic-comedy. Instead of the big emotional melodrama typically associated with the genre, Kaurismäki pulls everything back. The colors, the emotions, and the pace are all muted relative to what we expect from a film like this. And yet, it is one of the most emotionally potent romance films of the last few years. All this despite there barely being any romance whatsoever in the film. They barely interact for the first half of the film. When they are together, they don’t seem to talk much or have very much in common. Do these people truly love each other, or are they just afraid of loneliness? Do they just need someone or something to take their mind off of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine? In the end, it doesn’t matter. They fill a void in each other that has been eating at them for their entire lives. Kaurismäki never needs either of them to make some grand declaration of love to show their care for one another. He gets the message across with Ansa telling Holappa the name of her dog, Chaplin. Their love of cinema binds them as it does all of us who love this art form.
“Fallen Leaves” is one of the more impressive feats of tonal balance I’ve seen this year — funnily enough, probably only equaled by Anderson in “Asteroid City.” Usually, in these comedy-dramas, you see films that fall too far in one direction or the other, and often that’s towards drama, with long jokeless stretches or moments of poorly timed comedy. But Kaurismäki manages to keep his film consistently hilarious through its sarcasm, its visual comedy (a bit where Holappa takes a smoke break at work and sits on a bench in front of a sign that reads “No Smoking” is a highlight), and its deep-cut references to other media like Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die.”
None of these bits of humor get in the way of the emotional devastation at the story’s core, mainly because the jokes build on the pain of these characters. Kaurismäki’s choice of references tells us a lot about the characters. “The Dead Don’t Die” isn’t just a funny first-date movie choice. It speaks to the hopelessly nihilistic worldview of Holappa. That “no smoking” joke keys us into Holappa’s possible death wish in the way he kills his body with drugs and alcohol and puts himself in danger with no care for the consequences.
“Fallen Leaves” doesn’t come with the flash or importance often associated with masterpieces. It's just incredibly effective at what it wants to do. Kaurismäki is in complete control of his craft and his message. Every creative choice is purposeful, evocative, and perfect for the material. This is the first film I’ve seen from Kaurismäki, but I immediately want to go back and discover more. In doing so, I imagine “Fallen Leaves” will only become more meaningful as time goes by.
