Fantastic stuff...

I've never been in a major economic slump, and I've never been to Finland, but I have felt the way these people felt, and the situations in the film play out pretty much how they would in my life, or in the lives of the people around me. It also mixed in a lot of humor, the dryest humor I've ever seen, but funny stuff never the less. I really got a big kick out of Ilona falling asleep outside the Employment Agency, which is not so unlike something my mother did once.

Anyways, I know this film is Finnish to the bone. Really, really Finnish. But some themes are universal and this one gets unemployment correct, down to every last emotion. Fine stuff, and the first film I've seen by Aki Kaurismäki. It's not so easy to get his stuff here, but I'll always be looking for more after this.

I had to download it, but if it ever comes out on R1 DVD, I will pay real green papers for it, I swears.


Now Playing ... 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields