The Man Without a Past
(2002)
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The Man Without a Past
(2002)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Markku Peltola | ... |
M
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| Kati Outinen | ... |
Irma
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Juhani Niemelä | ... |
Nieminen
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Kaija Pakarinen | ... |
Kaisa Nieminen
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Sakari Kuosmanen | ... | |
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Annikki Tähti | ... |
Manager of Flea Market
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Anneli Sauli | ... |
Bar Owner
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Elina Salo | ... |
Dock Clerk
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| Outi Mäenpää | ... |
Bank Clerk
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Esko Nikkari | ... |
Bank Robber
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Pertti Sveholm | ... |
Police Detective
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Matti Wuori | ... |
Layer
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Aino Seppo | ... |
Ex-wife
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Janne Hyytiäinen | ... |
Ovaskainen
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Antti Reini | ... |
Electrician
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The second part of Aki Kaurismäki's "Finland" trilogy, the film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track. Written by Jussi Tarvainen <jussi_tarvainen_84@hotmail.com>
This film is about as fast paced as Finnish films get, I guess. Don't look for a lot of facial expressions and a lot of overt body language because you ain't gonna get it. The film moves slowly like a Saami joiking in the sauna but it wonderful to behold with each deliberate step it takes. The characters may seem a little stiff to those of us unfamiliar with the inscrutable Finns but the great Finnish reserve which overlays the story line is tweaking at our whiskers at every shuffle forward in the story. It is really amazing that we have not seen other Finnish works before. This kind of off-the-wall story which has a wonderful basis of humanity underneath the more real than life characters clustered around a site with little or no conveniences of modern living in their sea container households. The odyssey of M who wanders through his voyage in search of himself only to be reconciled not with his long suffering and long awaiting Penelope but with a frustrated but good-hearted Major Barbara.
There are lots of puns visual and otherwise with the threads of incompetent cops, doctors, nurses, employment office workers interwoven with a comical wannabe bad-guy overseer, a rock'n roll Salvation Army band, a torch-songstress SA Major and the philosophical hero who honestly can't remember.
Check this one out without fail. It's pure fun...but just don't expect it run along at breakneck speed ala Hollywood...!