The Man Without a Past is a painfully boring film that offers very little entertainment value to the viewer. It's supposed to be a comedy about a man who cannot remember anything about his past, but there isn't a funny line in the entire film. The director, Aki Kaurismaki, failed to get me to care about any of the characters in the film because of the complete lack of action or emotion. The always stoic and timid characters made each passing scene more and more painful to watch. The plot is actually not that bad, but the way it's presented it feels like nothing ever happened during the film. I assume that cultural differences and perhaps the translation from Finnish to English had something to do with me not enjoying the film, but I believe that it was more than that. This is the only Kaurismaki film I have seen, but based on The Man Without a Past, I am not a fan of his style.
The story follows a man who was attacked and beaten in the park one night. After coming very close to death the man makes a full recovery with one exception: he can't remember anything about his past. After escaping from the hospital the man is later taken in and taken care of by a poor family that lives in an old shipping container. After being nursed back to health the man rents a shipping container of his own and starts his life over from scratch. After meeting and taking a liking to a woman while eating at a Salvation Army soup kitchen, the man goes to see her at the Salvation Army store where he gets new clothes and a new job. "The Man Without a Past" suddenly had himself a home, a job, a girlfriend, and even a dog. After learning that he has skills as a welder he tries to apply for a job, but he is unable to be paid until he opens a bank account. So, he heads to the bank to open an account, but unfortunately he gets caught up in a bank robbery and brought to jail. He is kept in jail for not giving the police any information about himself, which the police see as insubordination. He is eventually freed thanks to the help of a lawyer, but what he didn't realize is that the police posted fliers with his picture around town asking if anyone had recognized this mysterious man. A woman claiming to be his wife identified him, and he went to go visit her. He found out that he had been married and had just filed for divorce prior to his injuries. After learning that his past wasn't offering him any happiness the man heads back to his shipping container and his life with his new love Irma. Upon returning he finds that he is not really any different than the others that live in the area and that he is one of them. He may have been a man without a past but he had become a man with a future.
One theme of this film seems to be homelessness. The only time we see a character living in a real house is when he goes to visit his ex-wife. The family that took him in, the man that lived in the dumpster, the other men that went to the Salvation Army soup kitchen, and even Irma (lived in a dorm room) were all people who were very poor and struggling to get by. However, these people all made the most of their situations and seemed to enjoy their lives. One way that people did this, and another theme from the film, was by listening to music. After finding and getting the jukebox fixed, the man with no past introduces Rock and Roll music to the Salvation Army's choir/band. The group of young men are instantly hooked on the new "movement" and there playing of music becomes an important event for the lives of the poor and homeless people in the area. Even the woman who was in charge of the Salvation Army store took to the new movement and became the singer for the group's band. Music was the one thing that was bringing the community together in a positive way, and the man with no past was responsible for it.
Although I found the storyline of the film to be okay, I found the film itself to be very mediocre. A so called deadpan comedy gave us a cast of characters that brought zero emotion to the film. I cannot remember one person laughing at any point of the film, and I certainly wasn't laughing in the audience. There had to be a lot that was lost in translation here because the film was very awkward and uncomfortable to watch. I would imagine that without having to read the subtitles and being able to hear and understand how the characters were delivering their lines would have helped make it more entertaining. It could also simply be just a cultural difference that is the problem here. Either way, something was missing and it really hurt the film for us non Finnish speaking viewers. Overall I would say that the film is okay because the plot was decent, however I wouldn't recommend any English speaking viewers to expect this movie to be anything more than a drama, because it fails to deliver as a comedy.
The story follows a man who was attacked and beaten in the park one night. After coming very close to death the man makes a full recovery with one exception: he can't remember anything about his past. After escaping from the hospital the man is later taken in and taken care of by a poor family that lives in an old shipping container. After being nursed back to health the man rents a shipping container of his own and starts his life over from scratch. After meeting and taking a liking to a woman while eating at a Salvation Army soup kitchen, the man goes to see her at the Salvation Army store where he gets new clothes and a new job. "The Man Without a Past" suddenly had himself a home, a job, a girlfriend, and even a dog. After learning that he has skills as a welder he tries to apply for a job, but he is unable to be paid until he opens a bank account. So, he heads to the bank to open an account, but unfortunately he gets caught up in a bank robbery and brought to jail. He is kept in jail for not giving the police any information about himself, which the police see as insubordination. He is eventually freed thanks to the help of a lawyer, but what he didn't realize is that the police posted fliers with his picture around town asking if anyone had recognized this mysterious man. A woman claiming to be his wife identified him, and he went to go visit her. He found out that he had been married and had just filed for divorce prior to his injuries. After learning that his past wasn't offering him any happiness the man heads back to his shipping container and his life with his new love Irma. Upon returning he finds that he is not really any different than the others that live in the area and that he is one of them. He may have been a man without a past but he had become a man with a future.
One theme of this film seems to be homelessness. The only time we see a character living in a real house is when he goes to visit his ex-wife. The family that took him in, the man that lived in the dumpster, the other men that went to the Salvation Army soup kitchen, and even Irma (lived in a dorm room) were all people who were very poor and struggling to get by. However, these people all made the most of their situations and seemed to enjoy their lives. One way that people did this, and another theme from the film, was by listening to music. After finding and getting the jukebox fixed, the man with no past introduces Rock and Roll music to the Salvation Army's choir/band. The group of young men are instantly hooked on the new "movement" and there playing of music becomes an important event for the lives of the poor and homeless people in the area. Even the woman who was in charge of the Salvation Army store took to the new movement and became the singer for the group's band. Music was the one thing that was bringing the community together in a positive way, and the man with no past was responsible for it.
Although I found the storyline of the film to be okay, I found the film itself to be very mediocre. A so called deadpan comedy gave us a cast of characters that brought zero emotion to the film. I cannot remember one person laughing at any point of the film, and I certainly wasn't laughing in the audience. There had to be a lot that was lost in translation here because the film was very awkward and uncomfortable to watch. I would imagine that without having to read the subtitles and being able to hear and understand how the characters were delivering their lines would have helped make it more entertaining. It could also simply be just a cultural difference that is the problem here. Either way, something was missing and it really hurt the film for us non Finnish speaking viewers. Overall I would say that the film is okay because the plot was decent, however I wouldn't recommend any English speaking viewers to expect this movie to be anything more than a drama, because it fails to deliver as a comedy.