Rent Shadows in Paradise (1986)

Very Droll - Shadows in Paradise review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Another of Aki Kurosmaki’s droll deadpan human drama’s. Pelonpaaa (one of his regular actors) plays Nikander a garbage man whose life isn’t going anywhere . His older truck driver has plans to set up his own company but has a heart attack and dies. Nikander responds by drinking even more heavily but meets llona (Outinen) who works a supermarket checkout and whose life is as empty, She gets fired but steals a cash box and they spend a weekend by the seaside but the police are called. Nikander manages to return the cash so all is ok and she moves in with him. He is very taciturn and the romance proceeds with fits and starts more off than on but they realise how much they need each other . As always with Kurosmaki’s films it’s the awkward silences and sideway glances that reveal far more than dialogue and Pelonpaaa has one of those of this faces and that can express loads by showing nothing….another little gem. - 4/5