Fallen Leaves

Grade: B

If you distilled Bringing Out the Dead’s plot down to just the Nicolas Cage/Patricia Arquette relationship, I imagine you’d have something like Fallen Leaves. It feels very Scorcesean, like Taxi Driver or the aforementioned. The dialogue is deadpan and sneaky-clever, with humorous banter and one-liners. Stars Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen reminded me of 90s versions of Deborah Kara Unger and Tim Roth.

He plays Holappa. He works as a sandblaster or whatever entry-level construction job he can get. He’s often intoxicated on the job. He remarks that he drinks because he’s depressed, and he’s depressed because he drinks. One night, while at a karaoke bar with his friend, he meets Ansa (Alma Pöysti). She works at a grocery store, stocking the shelves. At home, when trying to listen to the radio, she’s constantly bombarded with reports about the Russia/Ukraine situation.

Ansa and Holappa hit it off in an unusual way. They don’t exchange names, but she gives him her number, which he loses shortly after. But their paths end up crossing again, and they go out for coffee, and to the movies, etc. The movie is an interesting character study – an exploration of loneliness, and the sacrifices one is willing to make to be with someone they really like. Director Aki Kaurismäki makes extensive use of songs on the soundtrack to punctuate the themes. The version I watched helpfully gave me subtitles for all the lyrics, and not just the dialogue scenes (this is a Finnish-German film set in Helsinki). One of the movie’s downfalls also works in its favor. It’s very short. I wondered if more length could have fleshed things out a bit. But on the other hand, it goes by quickly, and it’s easy to stay invested.

Fallen Leaves is a good, sometimes great movie. It’s possible for there to be filler and fluff in a sub-90-minute movie, but there isn’t any to be found in this film’s 80 minutes. I like how art – particularly the interpretation of movie titles – is subjective. The name Fallen Leaves is perfect; leaves descend from trees in the last couple months of the year. It’s completely random where they go, and you never know where or which ones they will land next to – much like Ansa and Holappa, who just happened to have found each other. At least that’s what it means to me.

Grade: B