The Man Without A Past Details

Although Timo Salminen's lustrous photography and Aki Kaurismaki's ripe dialogue evoke the Hollywood melodramas of yesteryear, this droll and optimistic tale from society's margins has a distinctively Finnish feel. Markku Peltola plays M, a drifter who is beaten and robbed while sleeping rough in a Helsinki park. Declared dead at the hospital, he miraculously returns to life, minus his memory, and sets off on a strange odyssey through the city's streets. Deadpan delivery, quirky humour and compassion for ordinary people quietly striving to get by are established Kaurismaki trademarks — and all are employed here — but there's nothing predictable about the way in which Peltola recovers his sense of identity, notably through his chaste relationship with Salvation Army member, Kati Outinen. The community on the outskirts of Helsinki belongs to a rock 'n' roll fairy tale, but Kaurismaki's deceptively detached style is too rooted in reality to proffer unfettered escapism.

"...Full of bright color, exquisitely strange dialogue and music....It is at once artful and unpretentious, sophisticated and completely accessible, sure of its own authority and generous toward characters and audience alike..."