Koistinen — a preternaturally unlucky and systematically denigrated security guard — sees his life spiral into chaos as he gets involved with the wrong company. To advance the interests of their voracious greed, a gang of kleptocratic thugs move in to exploit Koistinen’s central weakness: his loneliness and longing to connect. While that may sound like the Facebook business model, this is a stinging indictment from Finland’s greatest living ironist.
We are so lucky to watch this! Since its release in 2006, Lights in the Dusk has been excessively difficult to find in digital media. It remains an underappreciated work but, along with (the better-known) The Other Side of Hope (2017), it is one of Kaurismäki’s boldest expressions. At once very funny and very sad, Lights in the Dusk repurposes the cinematic language of film noir and gangster flicks to create a wholly singular proletarian satire of late-stage capitalism. This is Kaurismäki at his most angry and most compassionate.
Community Partner
Janne Hyytiäinen, Maria Järvenhelmi, Maria Heiskanen, Ilkka Koivula
Finland/Germany/France
2006
In Finnish and Russian with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Aki Kaurismäki
Cinematography
Timo Salminen
Screenwriter
Aki Kaurismäki
Editor
Aki Kaurismäki
Original Music
Carlos Gardel, Giacomo Puccini
Aki Kaurismäki
Filmography: Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989); Drifting Clouds (1996); The Man Without a Past (2002); Le Havre (2011); The Other Side of Hope (2017); Fallen Leaves (2023)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Secret in Their Eyes
This month's Talking Pictures screening is a multi-layered, poignant thriller interweaving the personal lives of a prosecution investigator (Ricardo Darin) and a judge, with a manhunt spanning twenty-five years. Stay for cookies, coffee and a chat after!
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
