"Mies vailla menneisyyttä" or "The Man Without a Past" is a co-production between Finland, France and Germany from 2002, so this film will soon have its 20th anniversary, but as the writer and director is Finland's Finest Aki Kaurismäki, this is of course only in the Finnish language. It runs for sligthly over 1.5 hours, under 100 minutes, and tells us into the life of a man about which we have no clue who he is (initially). The latter is played by actor and musician Markku Peltola, who sdly died at a relatively young age only five years after this movie was made. I thought he looked a bit like an older rougher version of Roger Federer. But oh well, maybe that is just me. Anyway, he is in pretty much every scene of the movie and we see him early on when he lies outside and is brutally attacked by a gang of crooks who seemingly kill him, but he ends up in a hospital with severe injuries, is pronounced dead shortly afterwards and as soon as the doctor and nurse leave the room, he just stands up with all hus bandages and drains as if nothing happened and walks out. Typical Kaurismäki really. There is always a certain violence, more even melancholy to his films, but also some bizarre fairly unrealistic comedy attached to it that still works nonetheless. Other than that, the comedy comes from interhuman interactions basically and their dialogues. Examples would be the guy who offers the protagonist to buy a beer, the guy who calls the protagonist a simple man, the protagonist wiping the floor in front of the woman he likes and so on and so forth. There are really many moments where you will laugh or at least smile while watching this neither too old nor too new movie. For me (and also for some of the other people in the audience), the highlight was Hannibal the dog. There was this running gag about him being a wild beast really, but you could immediately see that it is no such thing. Actually, it is not even a he, but it was somewhat cute how she grew closer with the main character than her initial owner. Oh yes this cop was kinda fun to watch too in his attempts to appear badass, which he really wasn't but his profession kinda demanded and he even looked that way, but he just was not.
In addition to that, the main character was really physically fine, only exception was that he lost all his memories (despite remembering he has a free call when in jail, how to drive a car etc. which shows you Kaurismäke is not about 100% realism, not here not in most of his other works), thus explaining the film's name. It's never really too much about getting them back honestly, he just starts from zero again, makes new friends and also meets a girl he likes. The latter is played by Kati Outinen and she received a Palme d'Or for her portrayal, which was honestly pretty ridiculous. The screen time as well as her material and her performance do not warrant this win one but. I may sound like a hater, but let me say that honestly I did not feel she was bad at all, but this is just one over-the-top reaction giving such an award to her for her performance here. If anybodydeserved something like that, then the lead actor. By the way, this was not the only big success for the film at Cannes that year. Tähti (the dog) also received one. May she rest in peace and also the film itself won the big prize. Also definitely a bit too much in my opinion. It was a good film, but not that good, admittedly more justified than the acting win I guess. There were people (not too few) applauding after my showing and it's been a while since I had that, also slightly exaggerated. Don't get me wrong I liked the watch and film, especially for its occasional awkwardness and bizarre moments and just situational comedy. It feels a lot lighter than it should given all the things that happened. I also feel the movie got slightly worse in the second half and with that I am mostly talking about everything that follows after the moment when he starts making music with this garage band there and the lady singing who said earlier she once was a singer. This is when the story really moves forward and a lot more happens, also in terms of the main character finding out about who he really is. This second half I probably would have rated lower than a 6 out of 10, probably just a 4. But everything before that is fine and there are also some solid moments later on, which is why I will be more generous with my rating. One would be when he runs into these crooks again, but now he has all his new friendw with him which also indicates that his life before that was kinda empty as they were missing. Anybody was missing. A nie little moment from the friendship perspective I think, even if it was a bit exaggerated and maybe too much going for the obvious. What else can I say? Oh yeah forest wolves beware of Hannibal! Obviously I did not know (m)any of the actors here, but Finnish film buffs perhaps will, but you don't really need to in order to appreciate this movie. I think it is slightly overrated all in all, to me it is nowhere near the best Kaurismäki has done, even if it has that North European charm going for it for sure. Go check it out, just don't expect something mindblowing, or maybe you will actually like it as much as some of the other people in my showing. Who knows. It is certainly worth seeing. Also kinda nice a dog does not die for once in a film here, especially if it is such a cute one. I think everybody in the audience, especially the girls, were totally in love it since minute one.
In addition to that, the main character was really physically fine, only exception was that he lost all his memories (despite remembering he has a free call when in jail, how to drive a car etc. which shows you Kaurismäke is not about 100% realism, not here not in most of his other works), thus explaining the film's name. It's never really too much about getting them back honestly, he just starts from zero again, makes new friends and also meets a girl he likes. The latter is played by Kati Outinen and she received a Palme d'Or for her portrayal, which was honestly pretty ridiculous. The screen time as well as her material and her performance do not warrant this win one but. I may sound like a hater, but let me say that honestly I did not feel she was bad at all, but this is just one over-the-top reaction giving such an award to her for her performance here. If anybodydeserved something like that, then the lead actor. By the way, this was not the only big success for the film at Cannes that year. Tähti (the dog) also received one. May she rest in peace and also the film itself won the big prize. Also definitely a bit too much in my opinion. It was a good film, but not that good, admittedly more justified than the acting win I guess. There were people (not too few) applauding after my showing and it's been a while since I had that, also slightly exaggerated. Don't get me wrong I liked the watch and film, especially for its occasional awkwardness and bizarre moments and just situational comedy. It feels a lot lighter than it should given all the things that happened. I also feel the movie got slightly worse in the second half and with that I am mostly talking about everything that follows after the moment when he starts making music with this garage band there and the lady singing who said earlier she once was a singer. This is when the story really moves forward and a lot more happens, also in terms of the main character finding out about who he really is. This second half I probably would have rated lower than a 6 out of 10, probably just a 4. But everything before that is fine and there are also some solid moments later on, which is why I will be more generous with my rating. One would be when he runs into these crooks again, but now he has all his new friendw with him which also indicates that his life before that was kinda empty as they were missing. Anybody was missing. A nie little moment from the friendship perspective I think, even if it was a bit exaggerated and maybe too much going for the obvious. What else can I say? Oh yeah forest wolves beware of Hannibal! Obviously I did not know (m)any of the actors here, but Finnish film buffs perhaps will, but you don't really need to in order to appreciate this movie. I think it is slightly overrated all in all, to me it is nowhere near the best Kaurismäki has done, even if it has that North European charm going for it for sure. Go check it out, just don't expect something mindblowing, or maybe you will actually like it as much as some of the other people in my showing. Who knows. It is certainly worth seeing. Also kinda nice a dog does not die for once in a film here, especially if it is such a cute one. I think everybody in the audience, especially the girls, were totally in love it since minute one.