Review of Le Havre (2011) by Erkki M — 19 Nov 2011

Saw the Kaurismaki movie Le Havre last night. Besides being set among the down-trodden in urban, industrial France, I found it differed hardly an iota from his films set among the down-trodden in urban, industrial Finland. Unfortunately, despite the low key comedy, the sometimes charming art direction, and the mildly amusing recurrence of some of his ensemble of quirky (Finnish) actors, I think his last few works have been rather unsatisfying rehashes of his standard cinematic elements (funny folk/popular music, working-class bars, klutzy and ironic agents of social control such as police and lawyers, hapless characters), without being fresh enough, or interesting enough, to merit his audience's attention.

I hope he breaks out of his rut in whatever later films he makes. If you've never seen a Kaurismaki film, you might minimally enjoy this one, but ultimately it is too slackly (self-)derivative to merit your time.