Jump directly to the page contents

Varjoja paratiisissa

Shadows in Paradise
Film still from SHADOWS IN PARADISE: A man and a woman look at each other, behind them the illuminated display of a nightclub.

Fri 29.03.
17:30

  • Director

    Aki Kaurismäki

  • Finland / 1986
    74 min. / 35 mm / Original version with English subtitles

  • with

    Matti Pellonpää, Kati Outinen, Sakari Kuosmanen, Esko Nikkari

  • Cinema

    Arsenal 1

    zu den Ticketszu dem Kalender

There is hardly a film by Aki Kaurismäki that does not touch on working life in one form or another, usually monotonous, often full of privation and sometimes only of short duration. The "Proletariat Trilogy" brings together early works by Kaurismäki, featuring his regular cast: Matti Pellonpää and Kati Outinen.

The timid love affair between Nikander, a shy garbage man (Pellonpää) and the supermarket cashier Ilona (Outinen) begins with a cut on the wrist. Together the two wrest a little hope from shattered dreams, rainy Helsinki with its dull bingo evenings and dreary hotel rooms. Sparsely staged, superbly acted, with an impressive palette of color and music, the film contains many of the elements that would soon become Kaurismäki's trademarks.

Funded by:

  • Logo Minister of State for Culture and the Media