Dead Leaves is the fifth Kaurismäki film to be selected for the main selection of the world’s most important film festival. In Finland, the story of the love affair between a sandblaster and a shop assistant will be screened in the autumn.
Filmed mainly in Kallio, Helsinki, the film features music by the Maustetgirls, among others.
*Dead Leaves* is the fourth film in the legendary working-class trilogy, which includes *Shadows in Paradise, Ariel* and *The Girl from the Tulip Factory*.* It is Kaurismäki’s 20th feature-length drama and the director’s fifth film to be selected for the main Cannes Film Festival.
Kaurismäki justifies his choice of subject in a press release from the distribution company B-Plan Distribution.
– Although until now I have created my dubious reputation by making mostly unnecessary violent films, I finally ended up, oppressed by all the pointless and criminal wars, writing a story about the subjects through which humanity might have a future: longing for love, solidarity, hope and respect for other people, nature and anything to the living or the dead. With the proviso that the target deserves it.
Last year, Kaurismäki stated in an interview with Yle that tragicomedy seems to be his own genre.
– I’m happy to return to the themes of my youth about a small person struggling against a faceless machine. And himself.
The premiere of *Dead leaves* in Finland is in the fall.
Kaurismäki’s previous feature film, *Beyond Hope*, was completed in 2017. Kaurismäki received, among other things, the director’s award at the Berlin Film Festival for the film about a Syrian refugee and a Finnish business traveler.