aki kaurismäki by aki kaurismäki
There wasn´t many news about Aki Kaurismaki since 2006, Swhen he launched Laitakaupungin valot (Afternoon Lights). Nevertheless, he is about to release a new film this year. He returned to France (he made La Vie de Boheme there) to record a film entitled Le Havre. We've looked in old papers and magazines and on the web to find out about this cinema silence, but we haven't found out much. However, while we were looking into what he's been up to in recent years, we have come across a lot of interviews. Even if all of them aren't direct interviews, Aki Kaurismäki's words have allowed us to guess what he's been up to during this long absence. What you're going to read now are the words of a man who speaks clearly and who makes precise observations. - White wine's the only reason to go on living.
- I've been making films for 23 years and not a single one of my films is any good. I was very ambitious, but I've only found one reply: I don't have any special talents.
- Did they ask John Ford why he always worked with John Wayne? Why change actors if they're good? I like my actors, I only have to whistle to them.
-I worked as an actor once. I shook off my past. That could be good for everyone. The past is a cemetery for humans, a cemetery which suffocates us.
-My life is football! My team? Oporto! I've lived in Portugal for half a year. I drive here with my wife and our three dogs. Two days on ferries and four driving. I used to do the journey in three days. I was going too fast. I like living there. Why? Because it's nothing like Finland.
-Any film from the 60's is better than my films. Living without talent isn't particularly interesting. I'm not interested in contemporary cinema. 99% of Hollywood films used to be trash, but there was a fantastic 1%. Nowadays, 100% of them are mediocre. I make bad films, but I don't make them in Hollywood's mediocre way.
-I want to offer entertainment, but without violence. People used to go to the cinema to enjoy themselves. Nowadays, you have to bring 300,000 people together in order to get the spectators' attention. In Helsinki violence is not glamorous, there's no name for it, it's just getting beaten up by somebody in the street. I've been attacked in the street too. But I'm big and I answered back. None of the people who attacked me got out alive ... That's a joke ... Just in case.
-When I was young, I used to sit in the loo and ideas would come to me. But I'm no longer young and in the loo, well, I just do the things I do in the loo.
-You can see my points of view about politics, the economy, morals and sociology in the welfare state in my films.
-My films aren't for the family. I don't like the idea of the family. My grandfather committed suicide and one of these days I will too.
A Finnish man
When we talk about Finnish cinema, Kaurismaki's name automatically comes up. The brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismaki have been the leading lights in Suomi cinema over the last few decades. Mostly Aki's films are internationally well-known and have become ambassadors for Finland. And, more than that, we'd also dare to say that they form our collective image of the Finnish character. If we were to be asked what the Finns are like, the characters from one of Aki Kaurismaki's films would spring to mind.
It's difficult to sum up this man's films in a few lines. That's why we've brought together these answers from many interviews. Some of them are no more than brush strokes, but we think they're enough to put together a sketch. Kaurismaki, although he's cynical and negative, and even seems to hate life a bit, is also a man with commitments. In the world of cinema, which is stuffed with hypocrisy, Kaurismaki, unlike so many actors and artists, answers in an independent and truthful way. We'll never see him campaigning for an NGO or shouting behind a banner surrounded by cameras. Kaurismaki is more direct that that. He refuses to go the festivals in the US as that country's government has refused Abbas Kiarostamiri a visa. Without making a fuss about it. He doesn't appear in magazines, or have Louis Vuitton bags …
As we're talking about Kaurismaki, we have to mention his work with the cinematographer Timo Salminen. Kaurismaki's films are presented in a personal and natural way. Some cinema critics say that Kaurismaki's films are too aesthetic, what they tell gets buried under the images. But if a film pays attention to "design", does that affect the film's value? To make films about social subjects, does a natural aesthetic have to be used? We're not going to wade into that puddle, which is hardly even knee-deep. Even though some people still go on about it, that's now an out-of-date debate. What we want is for Kaurismaki to start making films again. We would all be grateful for that: the fans would have another chance to enjoy themselves and the critics would have something else to write about.
- I've been making films for 23 years and not a single one of my films is any good. I was very ambitious, but I've only found one reply: I don't have any special talents.
- Did they ask John Ford why he always worked with John Wayne? Why change actors if they're good? I like my actors, I only have to whistle to them.
-I worked as an actor once. I shook off my past. That could be good for everyone. The past is a cemetery for humans, a cemetery which suffocates us.
-My life is football! My team? Oporto! I've lived in Portugal for half a year. I drive here with my wife and our three dogs. Two days on ferries and four driving. I used to do the journey in three days. I was going too fast. I like living there. Why? Because it's nothing like Finland.
-Any film from the 60's is better than my films. Living without talent isn't particularly interesting. I'm not interested in contemporary cinema. 99% of Hollywood films used to be trash, but there was a fantastic 1%. Nowadays, 100% of them are mediocre. I make bad films, but I don't make them in Hollywood's mediocre way.
-I want to offer entertainment, but without violence. People used to go to the cinema to enjoy themselves. Nowadays, you have to bring 300,000 people together in order to get the spectators' attention. In Helsinki violence is not glamorous, there's no name for it, it's just getting beaten up by somebody in the street. I've been attacked in the street too. But I'm big and I answered back. None of the people who attacked me got out alive ... That's a joke ... Just in case.
-When I was young, I used to sit in the loo and ideas would come to me. But I'm no longer young and in the loo, well, I just do the things I do in the loo.
-You can see my points of view about politics, the economy, morals and sociology in the welfare state in my films.
-My films aren't for the family. I don't like the idea of the family. My grandfather committed suicide and one of these days I will too.
A Finnish man
When we talk about Finnish cinema, Kaurismaki's name automatically comes up. The brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismaki have been the leading lights in Suomi cinema over the last few decades. Mostly Aki's films are internationally well-known and have become ambassadors for Finland. And, more than that, we'd also dare to say that they form our collective image of the Finnish character. If we were to be asked what the Finns are like, the characters from one of Aki Kaurismaki's films would spring to mind.
It's difficult to sum up this man's films in a few lines. That's why we've brought together these answers from many interviews. Some of them are no more than brush strokes, but we think they're enough to put together a sketch. Kaurismaki, although he's cynical and negative, and even seems to hate life a bit, is also a man with commitments. In the world of cinema, which is stuffed with hypocrisy, Kaurismaki, unlike so many actors and artists, answers in an independent and truthful way. We'll never see him campaigning for an NGO or shouting behind a banner surrounded by cameras. Kaurismaki is more direct that that. He refuses to go the festivals in the US as that country's government has refused Abbas Kiarostamiri a visa. Without making a fuss about it. He doesn't appear in magazines, or have Louis Vuitton bags …
As we're talking about Kaurismaki, we have to mention his work with the cinematographer Timo Salminen. Kaurismaki's films are presented in a personal and natural way. Some cinema critics say that Kaurismaki's films are too aesthetic, what they tell gets buried under the images. But if a film pays attention to "design", does that affect the film's value? To make films about social subjects, does a natural aesthetic have to be used? We're not going to wade into that puddle, which is hardly even knee-deep. Even though some people still go on about it, that's now an out-of-date debate. What we want is for Kaurismaki to start making films again. We would all be grateful for that: the fans would have another chance to enjoy themselves and the critics would have something else to write about.
