The Cinema of Mika Kaurismäki

The Cinema of Mika Kaurismäki The Cinema of Mika Kaurismäki Transvergent Cinescapes, Emergent Identities Pietari Kääpä afl]dd][l:jaklgd$MC';`a[Y_g$MK9 First published in the UK in 2011 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK First published in the USA in 2011 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA Copyright © 2011 Intellect Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover designer: Holly Rose Copy-editor: Heather Owen Typesetting: Mac Style, Beverley, E. Yorkshire ISBN 978-1-84150-409-4 / EISBN 978-1-84150-452-0 Printed and bound by Gutenberg Press, Malta. Contents Acknowledgements 7 Introduction: The (trans)national and the Global in Mika Kaurismäki’s Films 9 Chapter 1: The Aki/Mika Syndrome: Cosmopolitan Auteurism and the Search for Cinematic Stability 23 Chapter 2: Cross-genre: Transnational Genre Mutations 41 Chapter 3: Mapping Transnational Space at the Margins of the Global Metropolis: Representations of the City in Kaurismäki’s Films 65 Chapter 4: Post-road: Deconstructing the European Road Movie 85 Chapter 5: Auto-ethnography: Merging the Self and ‘Other’ in Brazilian Music Documentaries 107 Chapter 6: Post-nation: Kaurismäki’s Films in a Global Spectrum 135 Chapter 7: The Potential of Post-humanism: Kaurismäki and the Ecological Imagination 153 Chapter 8: The Polyphonality of Transvergence: The Reception of Kaurismäki’s Cinema 165 Conclusion: Beyond the Happy Ending 195 Bibliography 201 Acknowledgements his book is the result of a long fascination with Finnish cinema, specifically with those films that try to find new ways for exploring the transnational and increasingly global Tscope of this form of cultural production. Many individuals have been instrumental in providing substantial support for the project. Tommy Gustafsson, Kimmo Laine, and others have provided suggestions and feedback on different aspects of my work. Andrew Nestingen and Mette Hjort, Henry Bacon, Claire Thomson and Andrew Higson have been astonishingly supportive of the directions of my academic career. They have provided opportunities for publication and pervasive constructive criticism that constantly shapes my work. Mika Kaurismäki has graciously devoted time amongst his busy schedule to provide interviews and information on his films. Kansallinen Audiovisuaalinen Arkisto’s library and publications provided valuable research data for the project as did the online services of Project LUMIERE. My editors at Intellect have been extremely helpful and supportive throughout the writing of this book. Jelena Stanovnik has especially been a constantly and invigoratingly motivating participant in the editing process. Oskar Öflund Stiftelse and the Research Committee at University of Nottingham Ningbo provided the book with generous funding, for which I am very grateful. This book is dedicated to my family, both Finnish and Chinese, and especially to Yan, for all her enduring support during the production of this work. Pietari Kääpä October 2010 Introduction: The (trans)national and the Global in Mika Kaurismäki’s Films n summer 2008, cultural columns of Finnish newspapers were reporting an unusual occurrence – Mika Kaurismäki, one of the most well-known Finnish directors, was Istarting production on a major new film:Haarautuvan Rakkauden Talo/The House of Branching Love (Mika Kaurismäki, 2009). Normally, the start of a new Finnish production would be met with some enthusiasm, but certainly not the type of large-scale interest afforded to Kaurismäki’s film. Shortly after this event, on 14 November 2008, the Finnish multiplexes started screening a somewhat unusual film amongst the usual Hollywood Christmas blockbusters and large-scale domestic productions: Kaurismäki’s Kolme Viisasta Miestä/Three Wise Men (Mika Kaurismäki, 2008). The film, focused on three middle-aged divorced men who meet by chance on Christmas Eve, was a no-budget production that presented a distinctly bleak alternative to all the popcorn-fodder available for vacationing consumers. The reviews for the film were mostly positive, but most of the column space was devoted to Kaurismäki and his return to Finland after years of international co-productions. Yet, the film attracted only 1054 spectators. How can we explain these contradictory modes of reception for Kaurismäki and his films? What are the reasons for the critics’ enthusiasm for Kaurismäki’s return and the clear disinterest of the audiences for Three Wise Men? Why would the Finnish multiplexes release a distinctly non-commercial film at one of the busiest times of the year? And what is the significance of Kaurismäki’s intervention in the topic of Christmas celebrations: a festival seen in Finland as a distinctly family-centred national event? The discourses of national culture, popular entertainment, non-commercial art-house characteristics, and a distinctly bleak view of societal alienation intertwine in Kaurismäki’s films and the discourse around his work. The introduction of this work will explore these questions as many of these seemingly banal instances hold a key to unpacking Kaurismäki’s complex relationship with Finland. Before we move on to discuss some of the potential implications of Kaurismäki’s complex relationship with his native country, we have to explore the implications of ‘return’ in more depth through a brief retrospective of his career. The Cinema of Mika Kaurismäki Mika Kaurismäki and nation Kaurismäki’s career spans nearly 30 years and involves productions ranging from small- scale Godardian exercises (Valehtelija/The Liar, 1981) to multinational commercial productions (Helsinki-Napoli: All Night Long, 1987), from Finnish heritage films Klaani( – Tarina Sammakoiden Suvusta/The Clan – A Tale of the Frogs, 1984) to documentaries on Brazilian music (Solar Mirror, 2007). He completed a degree in film production in Munich Film und Fernsehen Schule, where he produced the Finnish-set The Liar as his dissertation project. The film gained positive notices on its release in Finland’s Tampere Short Film Festival and moderate success on its commercial release in domestic art-house cinemas. Critics invariably discussed the Godard-inspired work as instigating a ‘Finnish New Wave’, a conceptualization that both indicates the film’s transnational inspirations and its status as something novel and distinct in the annals of Finnish cinema. Working alongside brother Aki (who starred in The Liar), Mika Kaurismäki became one of the leading producers of the Finnish New Wave of the 1980s with films such asArvottomat /The Worthless (1982) and Rosso (1985). These films were a response to what Kaurismäki and many of his contemporaries perceived as the stilted, inward-looking state of the Finnish film industry, dominated by lengthy, monumental historical epics and farcical comedies. During the 1970s and the 1980s, few of these ‘official’ films, reliant on state-subsidies from the Finnish Film Foundation (Suomen Elokuvasäätiö), met with any substantial interest from domestic audiences – despite the occasional ‘national’ blockbuster such as Tuntematon Sotilas/The Unknown Soldier, (Mollberg, 1985) and Talvisota/The Winter War, (Parikka, 1989). It was up to independent farces, such as the immensely popular Uuno Turhapuro series, and imported films to cater to domestic cinemagoers. The contemporary situation was a result of far-ranging debates over national cinema in both policy and critical circles, debates which reflected concurrent national cinema rhetoric Europe-wide. The delineation between the artistic (experimental, or more often in Finland’s case, ‘nationally-relevant’ film production) and the populist (sensationalist or farcical films) has a long history, ranging from the high taxation levied on popular cinema in the 1940s and 50s to the Foundation’s support for historical epics and politically-engaged, modernist art films in the 1960s and 1970s. Both Foundation-approved and independent productions dealt with the many tumultuous changes Finnish society had gone through in the previous decades. Fast-paced urbanization and the decrease of traditional agrarian lifestyles became collectively known as the ‘Great Migration’, as thousands vacated the countryside for the city, or moved abroad to Sweden or other neighbouring countries. These ideas were metaphorically reflected in the class divisions and contrasting lifestyles of the protagonists of the historical epics and farcical comedies, but they largely avoided socio-realist discussion of the contemporaneous disappointment and alienation these transformations were causing amongst the population. Established film-makers such as Mikko Niskanen and Tapio Suominen also took part in chronicling these experiences in distinctly socio-realist terms with the financially and 10 Introduction: The (trans)national and the Global in Mika Kaurismäki’s Films critically successful youth-oriented productions Täältä Tullaan Elämä/Right on, Man! (Suominen, 1980) and Ajolähtö/Take-off (Niskanen, 1982). While depictions of alienated and rebellious youth culture are nothing new, productions by middle-aged directors in the 1950s, such as Kuriton Sukupolvi/The Unruly Generation (Kassila, 1957), portrayed the youth of the nation as a threat to social order. It

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