Award-winning filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki makes a masterful return with FALLEN LEAVES, a timeless, hopeful and ultimately satisfying love story about two lonely souls’ path to happiness — and the numerous hurdles they encounter along the way. Set in contemporary Helsinki, and shot through with Kaurismäki’s typically playful, idiosyncratic style and deadpan humor, this tender romantic tragicomedy is a timely reminder of the potency of movie-going from one of cinema’s living legends. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
“Its well of feeling creeps up on you and it delivers a good share of laugh-out-loud lines with droll aplomb. Besides, who are we to quibble about any gift from one of world cinema’s greatest treasures?” —David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter “FALLEN LEAVES may be endowed with the spirit of a fable and the romantic sweep of a Sirkian melodrama, but its faith in our ability to find light in the darkness never feels the least bit false or naive, because to watch this movie is to find it there too.” —David Ehrlich, IndieWire “Another of Kaurismäki’s beguiling and delightful cinephile comedies, featuring foot-tapping rock’n’roll. It’s romantic and sweet-natured, in a deadpan style that in no way undermines or ironises the emotions involved and with some sharp things to say about contemporary politics.” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
