Its Preston Sturges meets Ingmar
Bergman in the latest flick from Aki
Kaurismaki. A man is beaten in a park in
Helsinki and loses his memory. He
winds up living with a group of no-income
transients who inhabit abandoned railway
freight cars. He says lots of funny stuff in
a manner so deadpan and dry that youd
swear he was reading funeral notices to
blind nuns. Then, of course, he gets a
jukebox and falls in love with a Salvation
Army worker. The cinematography is so
pretty it could make a Nobel Prize cry, and
the costumes and sets are like some sort
of David Lynch version of extreme poverty.
I think it would be fun to see this movie
while really stoned, because then it would
be overtly hilarious. As it is, it may be too
subtle for its own good, but if youve
always wanted to see
Sullivans
Travels re-done as a contemporary
Finnish film, then
Man Without a
Past is probably the only movie you
should see ever.
By
James DiGiovanna
Reviews