MOVIE
“Rikos ja rangaistus”
1983 | 93 min | Colour
Aki Kaurismäki
-Synopsis-
Laikkainen, a young man who works at a meat slaughterhouse, curses everything in the world. One day, he breaks into the home of a businessman, Honkanen, and shoots him dead as he begs for his life. Eva, a caterer who happens to be at the scene, sees him, but for some reason she is not afraid and does not turn him in. However, the police soon become suspicious of Laikkainen and pursue him relentlessly, but they are unable to catch him as he keeps a poker face. The police decide to arrest the vagrant with the evidence, and Laikkainen seems to have gotten away with it…
☆☆☆
Based on Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment," this suspenseful human drama is set in Finland. Aki Kaurismäki's debut film at the age of 26. It is surprising that his style is already well established at this point.
There is a certain part of me that always judges if a movie is good or not.
This is a film where a single point that the director really wants to express comes out vividly. This is the kind of film I like.
In recent years, there have been a lot of movies that are structured in a Hollywood style, or perhaps a commercial style, with a climax every 15 minutes. While these films are not boring to watch, I feel that the overall impression is blurred.
On the other hand, there are times when a work starts off slowly and you think it's boring, but it gradually grows into a groovy experience, and by the end, you're filled with refreshing emotion.
This work would clearly fall into the latter category.
In the second half of the film, the protagonist is cornered, and on the one hand, he calmly prepares a forged passport and seems to be planning to escape, but on the other hand, he goes to the scene of the murder and says to a craftsman undergoing renovation, "If you turn me in, you'll get the credit," and leaves the scene.
When the hero finally learns that the police have come to search his house, he calls Eva after (for some reason) watching an opera. Eva does not answer the call.
Laikkainen sighs, gets into his old Opel, and says
"And the dust shall return to the earth.
Rahikainen turned the engine key and "Love Her madly" by the Doors began to play.
At this moment, all doubts are blown away and the heart of the young man who begins to run is beautifully expressed, removing the gloomy clouds of this work. A kind of innocence. A sense of speed. As a viewer, I want to run with the main character as far as he goes.
I think this kind of psychological portrayal is a characteristic of Aki Kaurismaki's works. Because of this method, the film is often said to be "difficult to understand" or "I don't know what it's trying to say," but it depends on how the audience feels about it. I guess that's why he has such a strong fan base.
However, it is clear that Kaurismäki was deeply devoted to Yasujiro Ozu, and he stuck to the minimalist method of expressing his feelings from the beginning.
Of course, Kaurismaki's signature laughs are woven in to entertain the audience (albeit in a low-key way).
Recommended for end-of-summer movie watching.
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