Ariel

In Kaurismäki’s drolly existential crime drama, a coal miner named Taisto (Turo Pajala) attempts to leave behind a provincial life of inertia and economic despair, only to get into ever deeper trouble. Yet a minor-key romance with a hilariously dispassionate meter maid (Susanna Haavisto) might provide a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Ariel, which boasts a terrific soundtrack of Finnish tango and Baltic pop music and lovely cinematography by Kaurismäki’s longtime cameraman Timo Salmimen, put its director on the international map.

Film Info

  • Finland
  • 1988
  • 72 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • Finnish

Available In

Collector's Set

Eclipse Series 12: Aki Kaurismäki’s Proletariat Trilogy

Aki Kaurismäki’s Proletariat Trilogy

DVD Box Set

3 Discs

$35.96

Ariel
Cast
Turo Pajala
Taisto Olavi Kasurinen
Susanna Haavisto
Irmeli Katariina Pihlaja
Matti Pellonpää
Mikkonen
Eetu Hilkamo
Riku
Credits
Producer
Aki Kaurismäki
Director
Aki Kaurismäki
Screenplay
Aki Kaurismäki
Cinematography
Timo Salminen
Art direction
Risto Karhula
Editing
Raija Talvio
Sound
Jouko Lumme

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Aki Kaurismäki

Writer, Producer, Director

Aki Kaurismäki

Even if he weren’t the world’s most famous Finnish filmmaker, Aki Kaurismäki’s singular place in cinema would be ensured by his distinctive and effortless mix of scalpel-sharp comedy, pitch-dark (The Match Factory Girl) or slapstick (Leningrad Cowboys Go America), with warm humanism. He started working in movies as his older brother Mika’s codirector, then struck out on his own with an adaptation of Crime and Punishment (1983). With his Proletariat Trilogy—Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988), and The Match Factory Girl (1990), which find humor or romance in even the most desperate situations—and his zany musical comedies starring the fictional band the Leningrad Cowboys, Kaurismäki became a beloved figure in international film circles. The sardonic inventiveness of the former and the unexpected hipster hilarity of the latter confirmed him as an uncommon master, and his influence has been felt in works by the likes of Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson. Kaurismäki has continued to delight audiences with such films as the Oscar-nominated The Man Without a Past (2003) and Le Havre (2011), which evince his social commitment as well as his fluency in visual storytelling.


Read Kaurismäki’s Top 10.