• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:June 13, 2021

Shadows in Paradise

shadowsinparadiseA Helsinki garbage man (Matti Pellonpää) is offered to start a business with a colleague; at the same time, he meets a supermarket teller (Kati Outinen). Pellonpää’s character Nikander returns from director Aki Kaurismäki’s first picture, Crime and Punishment (1983); he’s changed careers, but is still at the bottom of society. This is the first film in a “proletariat trilogy” and shows people struggling to find some purpose and happiness in life. That usually never happens, but one is surprised to see in the end, in spite of the dire setting, that this is a sweet, uplifting romance.

1986-Finland. 76 min. Color. Produced by Mika Kaurismäki. Written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Cast: Matti Pellonpää (Nikander), Kati Outinen (Ilona), Saku Kuosmanen (Melartin), Esko Nikkari, Kylli Köngäs. 

Trivia: Original title: Varjoja paratiisissa. The other two films in the trilogy are Ariel (1988) and The Match Factory Girl (1990).

 

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