The Man Without A Past

Last night Lou and I watched The Man Without A Past. It is the second film of Aki Kaurismäki's "Finland" trilogy. Unfortunately I've never seen the first film but I will certainly try and track it down.

This film begins as our main character arrives off the train in Helsinki. He carries a suitacase and walks slowly from the station and sits on a nearby park bench. He falls asleep and whilst embroiled in slumber is knocked unconcscious by one of three gang members wielding a baseball bat. They then steal his wallet, go through his suitcase and proceed to give him a total kicking. He is taken to hospital and his face is wrapped in bandages. His prospects do not look good and he dies on the bed. However, once the doctor and nurse leaves he sits bolt upright and rips the wires from him and takes off.

He does not get far before he collapses again by a dock area and when he wakes up he is taken in by a couple living in a steel container. The film portrays him getting his life back together, finding a steel container of his own and falling in love with a lady from the Salvation Army. Will he ever remember who he is?

This is a great film with some great comedic dialogue very subtely weaved into the narrative. At times it is quite surreal but I think it adds to the charm of the film and it reminds me in some parts of Pierrot Le Fou [reviewed last month]. There are other characters that interact with the main character who have their own nuances and humour which work very well for the film.

In all this was a very enjoyable movie to watch and I recommend tracking it down.

I would give this film 4 juke-boxes out of 5.