Aki Kaurismäki, arguably the most famous of Finland's filmmakers (bombastic actioneer Renny Harlin being the only other 'name'), returns with a characteristically downbeat comedy.
The titular character is M (Markku Peltola), whose sojourn in Helsinki is cut short by a vicious mugging. Pronounced dead at hospital, amazingly he returns to life, but can't remember a thing.
Clad in bandages, he discharges himself and is taken in by a poor family living in a converted shipping container. Bereft of a past, he chooses to build a new future for himself, and does so with Kati Outinen's fish-faced Salvation Army volunteer.
It's impassive, impressive stuff from Kaurismäki, who creates a heart-warming tale set against his nation's blighted economy, just as he did with 1996's "Drifting Clouds".
The static, almost theatrical scenes of minimal action and dialogue that chronicle M's continual misfortune amusingly mirror his blank responses. Such expressionless determination becomes increasingly funny as he greets each new setback with just a cigarette and the barest of shrugs. Typically, when things finally go his way, M reacts just the same.
As the unfortunate amnesiac, Markku Peltola is the epitome of wordless stoicism. Suggesting so much but hardly doing anything (he would have been a great silent film actor), there are shades of Keaton (that's Buster, not Michael) about him as, completely broke in a cafe, he pulls a well-used teabag from a matchbox after ordering a free mug of hot water.
Echoing 50s B-movies of all kinds, especially with its noirish title and cod rock'n'roll musical moments, "The Man Without a Past" is offbeat, quirky quality. Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes and the unofficial "Palm Dog" for Best Canine Performance (given to the director's pet pooch, Tahti), it's another splendid example of Kaurismäki's unique European cinema.
In Finnish with English subtitles.
See it even if you will miss the funny jokes that can't be understod by anyone but Finns
