Aki Kaurismäki

Aki Kaurismäki (born April 4, 1957) is a Finnish script writer and film director.

Aki Kaurismäki started his career as a co-director in the films of his elder brother Mika Kaurismäki. His debut as independent director was Crime and Punishment (1983), Dostoevsky's famous crime story set into modern-day Helsinki.

He gained worldwide fame with his movie Leningrad Cowboys Go America.

His style has been influenced a lot by such directors as Jean-Pierre Melville and Robert Bresson, as he relies on low-key acting and simple cinematic storytelling to get his message(s) across. Critics have also seen an influence from Rainer Werner Fassbinder but Kaurismäki - a keen film buff himself - has said that he somehow never got around to seeing any Fassbinder movies until recent years. His movies have a unique downplayed humorous side that can also be seen in the films of Jim Jarmusch, who has a cameo in Kaurismäki's film Leningrad Cowboys Go America. Jarmusch also used frequent Kaurismäki actors in his film Night on Earth, a part of which takes place in Helsinki, Finland.

Much of his work is centred on his native city of Helsinki, particularly Calamari Union which is largely set in the working class neighbourhood of Kallio, and the trilogy which is comprised of Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. His vision of Helsinki is, it should be noted, both critical and singularly unromantic.

Kaurismäki's most successful movie, for the time being, has been The Man Without a Past. It won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2003. However, Kaurismäki refused to attend the gala.

Filmography

Fiction films

• Rikos ja rangaistus (Crime and Punishment), 1983
• Calamari Union, 1985
• Varjoja paratiisissa (Shadows in Paradise), 1986
• Hamlet liikemaailmassa (Hamlet Goes Business), 1987
• Ariel, 1988
• Likaiset kädet (Les mains sales), 1989 (production for Finnish TV)
• Leningrad Cowboys Go America, 1989
• Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (The Match Factory Girl), 1990
• I Hired a Contract Killer, 1990
• Boheemielämää (La vie de bohème), 1992
• Pidä huivista kiinni, Tatjana (Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana), 1994
• Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, 1994
• Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), 1996
• Juha, 1999
• Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) (2002)
• Dogs Have No Hell (a 10 minute episode in the collaborative film Ten Minutes Older - The Trumpet), 2002
• Laitakaupungin valot (2006)

Documentaries

• Saimaa-ilmiö (Saimaa Gesture), 1981
• Total Balalaika Show, 1994

Short films

• Rocky VI, 1986 (8 min)
• Through the Wire, 1987 (6 min)
• Rich Little Bitch, 1987 (6 min)
• L.A. Woman, 1987 (5 min)
• Those Were The Days, 1991 (5 min)
• These Boots, 1992 (5 min)
• Välittäjä, 1996?

See also

• Finnish cinema

External links

• Siunattu teknologia!, comprehensive fan site of the films of Kaurismäki brothers.
• Virtual Finland Aki
• In-depth interview with Aki Kaurismaki
• 'I am a Lousy Film-maker' - interview with Aki Kaurismaki

Kaurismäki facts

• Aki Kaurismäki at IMDb