by Ethan Dodson
Fallen Leaves is the story of two people: Ansa and Holappa, both down on their luck living tandem, unfulfilling lives. Where Fallen Leaves excels is in providing their lives, which, at first glance, might appear quotidian; Ansa, a supermarket shelf stocker on a zero-hour contract, and Holappa, a sandblaster, with a deep, emotional care bordering on reverence. The film, rather than pass judgement on their lives, chooses to observe them neutrally. Long, static shots make up most of the run time, allowing one to feel like they are peering in on these lives as a passive observer, having small truths and intimate secrets revealed to them through their diligence.
The city of Helsinki is deeply important to Kaurismäki’s work. In Fallen Leaves it is a city transformed, warped by a collective grief for the humanitarian tragedy of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Where Kaurismäki’s characters are often able to find respite from their working-class existences, Shadows in Paradise ends with its two lovers boarding a cruise, Fallen Leaves feels less able to offer solace to Ansa and Holappa, there is too much uncertainty about the future for both, an uncertainty which is certainly familiar even to audiences in Australia.
Though deeply uncertain of its future, the movie is dedicated to being hilarious in the present, character’s laugh at each other, poke fun at their problems and allow themselves moments of joy amid chaos.
If you have been looking for a film to speak to your longing or lack of fulfillment, and not just speak to it but, instead, make wry, tongue-in-cheek jokes with it, then l recommend that you watch Fallen Leaves.
4/5 Pelicans.