Lights in the Dusk

I am sympathetic to Aki Kaurismäki's intimate social melodramas and I have given some of them a 4 out of 5 rating. In the case of this film, he did not change his creative method and style, but he took one of his typical creative traits to the extreme, i.e., his interest in various kinds of outsiders. World cinema is full of nobodies, desperate people, and failures, but they usually have some sympathetic qualities that make you root for them simply because you feel sorry for them. Koistinen is by no means the biggest outsider you could come across in today's cinema; someone like Max Horowitz from the film Mary and Max by Adam Elliot is much worse off, whether it's his loneliness or his overall miserable existence, and yet you feel much closer to that character and root for him. With this film, the problem is that the main protagonist is simply a self-centered idiot. He has been one in the past, he is one now, and within a few minutes, it becomes clear that he will remain one in the distant future as well. And for all his bumbling, inability to communicate, and lack of self-reflection, he has only himself to blame. Identifying with such a character is a matter for masochists. If you find yourself saying vengefully, "Hit him one more time and finally finish him off, so he can be done with it," then something is not right. It could still be seen as an analysis of a certain type of human being, if the plot's development corresponded to the logic of the characters. But it's all just a directorial construct because there was no need to send Koistinen to prison and there was no need to deprive him of another job. The director simply wanted it that way and didn't feel like coming up with a plot that would move the story forward. Overall impression: 25%. (11/22/2010)