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.

Finland
1988
72 minutes
Color
1.85:1
Finnish

Available In

Collector's Set

Aki Kaurismäki’s Proletariat Trilogy

DVD Box Set

3 Discs

$35.96

Cast & Credits

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

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.