Rating: 3.5/5
Lapland miners ascend the stairs, shutting off the lights as they go. They join other miners at the top of the stairs as one wires up a fuse and blows up the mine, shutting it down for good. Among the now out-of-work miners is Taisto Kasurinen, who takes off his gear and throws it away before hitting a cafe with an older coworker. The coworker gives Kasurinen the keys to his 1962 Cadillac convertible before walking into the men’s room and shooting himself.
So, Kasurinen packs a suitcase, throws it in the back of the Cadillac, and hits the road. Kasurinen pulls all his money out of the bank. He can’t get the convertible top to release, so he drives in the snow with the top down and a scarf wrapped around his head like a babushka. By night, he makes it to Southern Finland, where he stops to buy a burger. Two men see Kasurinen open his billfold and all the cash in it. So, they pretend to take an interest in his car, smash him over the head with a wine bottle, and take all his cash. When he awakens, he puts some paper on his head, wraps his head in a scarf, and hits the road.
The next day, Kasurinen arrives at a dock and waits with other men for daily work. While many men drive forklifts, Kasurinen loads sacks onto pallets for the forklifts to move. After his shift, he finds a coat in the trash that belonged to a worker who died in a forklift accident. He picks up his 256 marks and finds a homeless shelter to stay for the night. He takes his hard-earned cash to the bar and drinks himself under the table.
Irmeli gets off her shift as a hotel maid and changes clothes for her shift as a meter maid. She writes a ticket for Kasurinen’s Cadillac as he’s walking up. He asks how they can expedite the matter. She says dinner wouldn’t hurt. So, he quits her job, and they drive off. What does the future hold for these two? Will Kasurinen’s luck change, or is this the start of another tragedy to add to the books?
— Are you always this confident? — No, this is the first time.
The film has such a sense of resignation. Terrible things happen, and Kasurinen moves on. The lack of affect and constant dogpiling are funny in its relentless tragedy. But I guess that’s the point. The world has given up on Kasurinen—what can he do but continue? What can we do but laugh at his terrible luck?
The lack of non-diegetic music only heightens the ambiguity of how we’re supposed to feel.
Turo Pajala has a “Nick Cave without a heroin addiction” quality to him.
The filmmaking is rapid, even if the events aren’t action-packed. The camera moves when it needs to, watches when it can, and moves on with the precise timing of slapstick.
There’s a point where the film takes a direction I wasn’t as interested in, but the movie isn’t long enough for it to bother me that much.