Showing: aki kaurismaki  
Ariel

In Kaurismäki’s drolly existential crime drama, a coal miner attempts to leave behind a provincial life of inertia and economic despair, only to get into ever deeper trouble. Yet a minor-key romance with a hilariously dispassionate meter maid might provide a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 1988
35 mm, DVD

Leningrad Cowboys Go America

A struggling Siberian rock band leaves the lonely tundra to tour the United States because, as they’re told, “they’ll buy anything there.”

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 1989
DVD

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses

Living in Mexico with a top-ten hit under their belts, the Leningrad Cowboys have fallen on hard times. When they head north to rejoin their manager (Kaurismäki mainstay Matti Pellonpää) for a gig in Coney Island, he has turned into a self-proclaimed prophet.

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 1994
DVD

The Match Factory Girl

Kati Outinen is memorably impenetrable as Iris, whose grinding days as a cog in a factory wheel, and nights as a neglected daughter living with her parents, ultimately send her over the edge. The Match Factory Girl closes out the “Proletariat Trilogy” with a bang—and a whimper.

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 1990
35 mm, DVD

The Other Side of Hope

This wry, melancholic comedy from Aki Kaurismäki, a clear-eyed response to the current refugee crisis, follows two people searching for a place to call home.

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 2017
DCP, 35 mm, Blu-ray, DVD

Shadows in Paradise

Lonely garbageman Nikkander (Matti Pellonpää) finds himself directionless after losing his friend and co-worker to a sudden heart attack; unlikely redemption comes in the form of plain supermarket cashier Ilona (Kati Outinen), with whom he begins a tentative love affair.

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 1986
DVD

Total Balalaika Show

Aki Kaurismäki’s film of the Leningrad Cowboys’ massive concert in Helsinki’s Senate Square with the 150-member Alexandrov Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble is a loving tribute to the rock band he made famous.

Aki Kaurismäki Finland, 1994
DVD