LAITAKAUPUNGIN VALOT by Aki Kaurismaki, "Lights in the Dusk", 2006. Viewed at the 2007 Rouen Nordic Film Festival where, if Chantal Ackerman's spare study of nothingness was "experimental" the word which applies to Aki Kaurismaki's "Lights in the Dark" (Finnish title) (LAITAKAUPUNGIN VALOT) is "Minimalist" -- to the MAX! Kaurismaki has always been known for showing no more than what is absolutely necessary to make a story point in his spare but compassionate studies of Finnish losers in Helsinki, but in this film he distills it down to the very nittiest-of-grit. "Lights in the Dudk" (or Shadows in the Slums) tells the story of the misadventures of a handsome but feckless security guard and his ill-fated romance with the beautiful moll of a sinister local gangster. The story line is so compressed it's almost hard to follow what exactly is going on, however, when our hero dies at the end clutching the hand of the exotic femme fatale who brought about his demise, we realize that we have actually been through a lot more than the 78 minutes which just went by on screen. This is the kind of picture where, if you blink, you've missed a whole important plot point, but it's also an exceptional treat for those who have followed Aki's career over the years -- like a special desert at the end of a long feast. Another teasingly minimalist touch is the appearance of Kaurismaki's usual leading lady, Katti Outinen, in a 30 second cameo as -- what else? -- a supermarket checkout cashier. Don't blink or you'll miss her too. This latest offering from Kaurismaki may not be for every taste, but it is certainly something special and would be a perfect swan song were the taciturn Finn to step out of the picture tomorrow.

Plot: A lonely security guard is manipulated by a femme fatale working for a gang of jewel thievesThis is a film that is so bleak that it actually becomes very funny, in a slightly hysterical sort of way. It was recently broadcast in the UK at 2am, which must have made for a surreal viewing experience. The plot is minimal, the characterisation light, and the script short. Much of the film is taken up with long silences (in which the characters smoke), songs being played in full, and lengthy shots (check out the one of a card game in the gangster's den, where the femme fatale vacuums the carpet). The protagonist never actually does anything, preferring to simply let events wash over him, and for a thriller there are no thrills. Nor is there any action, or humour, or human warmth (the final shot excepted). Nonetheless, the film is gripping in a curious way, its bleakness and underdog hero proving strangely compulsive viewing.

Koistinen is a night watchman at a shopping mall in the Finnish capital Helsinki; he is treated with contempt by his boss and by his co-workers but he has a dream of opening his own security firm. It soon becomes apparent that this dream will never be realised when he goes to see his bank manager to arrange the necessary financing and it turned down; the manager thinking Koistinen is wasting both of their time. One day it looks as if things might be getting better for him when an attractive woman, Mirja, sits opposite him in a bar and after a short chat invites him to ask her out. Of course things can't be that good for him; she is just using him to gain the security codes for a jewellery store so the men she works for can rob it. They aren't content to just rob the store they also frame him so he ends up spending a year in prison; but even after all that he doesn't tell the authorities about Mirja.This film was nothing like I expected; it is film making at its most minimalist; there is almost no display of emotions and the settings are consistently bleak. Janne Hyytiäinen and Maria Järvenhelmi do well as Koistinen and Mirja; their characters may have zero chemistry between them but somehow it suits the cold feel of the film. Koistinen may not be the most sympathetic of characters but I found myself curious to find out what would happen to him and was ultimately pleased when the ending suggested that things might be about to get better for him. While this film lacks exciting action, laughs and likable characters it is worth watching if only because it is so different from typical Hollywood fare; also at seventy eight minutes it doesn't waste much time if it turns out you don't like it.

This is the story of Koistinen, Mirja and Aila. Koistinen is a night-guard in a modern business neighborhood in Helsinki. Besides doing his job, he has no contacts with other people except Aila at whose hot dog-stand he eats his daily meals. Secretly, he learns for economy exams in order to realize his dream to become a self-employed entrepreneur, but he does not really believe in his dream become true. Before and after work, he drinks, and this occupation helps him both to forget his desperate actual situation and to imagine a brighter future. The film is shot very darkly, and the task of the few lights is not to illuminate but to disclose - for the audience: Koistinen does not see. One evening, Koistinen's life seems to change: he meets the attractive Mirja. However, she is a gangster-bride, poisons his beer and steels his keys for the planned coup of her buddies. After the robbery, she returns to him and "wants to explain everything". Although Koistinen seems fully aware that he is cheated, he lets himself cheat, although he sees how Mirja hides the stolen keys and a few necklaces under his pillow, he just lets, what he thinks is his fate, go on. After Mirja left, he purposely awaits the police to arrest him in his apartment. He does not even defend himself.Never ever has despair better been portrayed in a more subcutaneous way - not only as a trip into the light, but as a trip through the light - the light out of the darkness, not the light as opposite to night.