I watched "Ariel" as the second film in an Aki Kaurismaki double feature that I recorded off of TCM. The other was "Shadows in Paradise." Both films are very similar in tone and locale, but I liked "Ariel" a bit more, and my understanding is that this is the first Kaurismaki film to enjoy worldwide fame, so clearly I'm not alone.
Like "Shadows..." it's an offbeat, very dead pan comedy, and I mean VERY dead pan. Like as in a certain personality or someone in a certain mood isn't going to even realize things are supposed to be funny. I imagine Kaurismaki might be an acquired taste, one I'm not sure I've entirely acquired myself yet. I enjoyed both films but they didn't leave me hankering to watch other Kaurismaki movies or even other Finnish movies for that matter. Finnish movies are just so....what's the word?....weird, and I have to be in the right mood to enjoy them, a mood that doesn't come around all the time.
Grade: A-
Like "Shadows..." it's an offbeat, very dead pan comedy, and I mean VERY dead pan. Like as in a certain personality or someone in a certain mood isn't going to even realize things are supposed to be funny. I imagine Kaurismaki might be an acquired taste, one I'm not sure I've entirely acquired myself yet. I enjoyed both films but they didn't leave me hankering to watch other Kaurismaki movies or even other Finnish movies for that matter. Finnish movies are just so....what's the word?....weird, and I have to be in the right mood to enjoy them, a mood that doesn't come around all the time.
Grade: A-