Ariel – Wellington Film Society

Aki Kaurismäki, Finland 1988, 72 mins, HD, PG .

The distinctive new flavour of the year is from Finland and it's definitely worth savouring. Ariel is a deadpan comedy of bleakness that somehow keeps you laughing as things get worse and worse for its lunkish hero. Maybe it's the Finnish tangos on the soundtrack, or the cool elegance of the camerawork as we cruise through the flat, frozen landscapes in a vast white Cadillac convertible - with the top down.

The prolific Kaurismäki (he's finished two films since this one and is well into a third) keeps you constantly aware that his downbeat tale of unemployment that leads to crime is not the stuff of which movies are made - while simultaneously turning in an extremely stylish, funny and moving movie. - Bill Gosden, Wellington Film Festival, 1990