Review of Drifting Clouds (1996) by Christopher C — 17 May 2011

Aki Kaurismaki's 1996 film KAUAS PILVET KARKAAVAT (Drifting Clouds) is the tale of Ilona (Kati Outinen) and Lauri (Kari Väänänen), a married couple in Helsinki who both lose their jobs at the same time. Ilona was the head water of a fancy restaurant, but it's bought out by new owners who don't need the old staff. Lauri was a tram driver, but the cancellation of some routes makes him redundant. We see them turned down from one job after another, facing repo men and shady characters taking advantage of their desperation for work, yet in many respects the film is a comedy. Kaurismaki's humour is extremely deadpan, at some points perhaps too subtle for audiences outside Finland, but it's still generally fun and there are some laugh-out-loud moments.

The film has a strong magical realist feel. Part of this is that the film is ostensibly set during the present day, but the characters and many of the interior sets seem to have stepped out of the 1950s. This is a key feature of Kaurismaki's aesthetic and found throughout his work. But also Ilona and Lauri's insistence on making it on their own, without accepting unemployment money from the state, is plausible but somehow not the expected course of events in 1990s Finland. Kaurismaki was to emphasize distrust of the welfare state in his later film MIES VAILLA MENESYYTTA (Man Without a Past), but there he was too heavy-handed in his criticism, while here there's more a tone of nobility than bitterness.

The happy ending is too facile, which keeps me from rating the film higher, but I greatly enjoyed KAUAS PILVET KARKAAVAT. What really drives the film is the quirky face of Kati Outinen, who in spite of all her defeats rolls with the punches and whose eyes maintain boundless optimism, like an adorable stray puppy. The performance by Markku Peltola as a drunken cook is also memorable. Finally, the film's colour palette is striking, showing a new maturity in design from the already veteran director.