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Monteyn's avatar

Monteyn

A little bit long for Kaurismaki but, everything you know and expect about him is in there. Like most of his output, a very nice little movie about life.
6 years 6 months ago
Siskoid's avatar

Siskoid

Going back to the themes of Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki's last film, The Other Side of Hope, presents another story about the refugee crisis, but this time the refugee is an adult Syrian, and the old man who helps him is a failing restaurateur (from which the deadpan humor of the film comes). He's much more ambiguous too, and you're wondering if he's a gangster, but that's a deft inversion of public perception. Our POV character is definitely Khaled, through whom we get a glimpse at the system, not just in Sweden, but elsewhere in (mostly Eastern) Europe. He's faced with systemic and endemic racism, we feel for him, and we don't see him as a criminal regardless of what some people think of refugees. So the closed-off character of Wilkström, who is also starting a new life and burned all past bridges to do so, is a privileged mirror of Khaled, a reflection to which we do ascribe some nefarious purpose, and we are probably wrong. Like Le Havre, this is about people helping people for no other motivation than that's the right thing to do, though it also feels more serious and ambiguous... more adult.
2 years 1 month ago
Emiam's avatar

Emiam

6+/10

(removed by mod: please post in English)
6 years 4 months ago
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