Ariel

1988 [FINNISH]

Comedy / Crime / Drama / Romance

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 87% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 87% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.4/10 10 9234 9.2K

prison underdog helsinki, finland factory worker prisoner falling in love

Plot summary

A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.

Director

Aki Kaurismäki Photo
Aki Kaurismäki

Top cast

Juuso Hirvikangas Photo
Juuso Hirvikangas as Man in the Harbor
Matti Pellonpää Photo
Matti Pellonpää as Mikkonen
Sakari Kuosmanen Photo
Sakari Kuosmanen as Prison Gatekeeper
Tomi Salmela Photo
Tomi Salmela as Guard
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
665.87 MB
1280*692
Finnish 2.0
NR
Subtitles
24 fps
1 hr 12 min
Seeds 14
1.33 GB
1918*1036
Finnish 5.1
NR
Subtitles
24 fps
1 hr 12 min
Seeds 23

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Sue613 8 / 10

A fascinating movie.

Synopsis: A good looking young guy inherits an old Cadillac convertible in Finland and the roof won't go up. He has no family or friends and has no work so he goes and looks for a better life or at least a way to survive. He is self sufficient and shows very little emotion in what life hands him. Luckily he isn't afraid to find work where he can but for some reason doesn't stand up for himself when wrongly accused of a crime. Basically in my opinion it is about two people who are very lonely and find each other in a sad, cold,unfair world but you never hear them complain. The actors don't seem to be acting but are just every day folk. If you want to see something completely out of the ordinary then I highly recommend you see it. I recorded it off of TCM channel and watched it twice in the same day then I saved it.
Reviewed by mjneu59 7 / 10

deadpan Finnish art-house humor

This 1988 feature from Finland's answer to Jim Jarmusch is a deadpan shaggy dog comedy charting the downfall and redemption of an unemployed mine worker, over several tentative episodes constructed not unlike a series of false starts. It begins, initially, as something like a road film; begins again as a romance; then begins yet again as an underworld crime drama, before finally ending in what could be just another prologue (which would make the entire film one large, elaborate tease). Kaurismaki's wayward hero is, like the scenario itself, pleasantly reticent; there's something undeniably disarming about the way he simply drifts from one predicament to another, even if the total effect makes each scene difficult to recall in detail afterward. It may not amount to much, but after a summer full of over-hyped, mega-budget, wannabe blockbusters Kaurismaki's economical humor is hard to resist.
Reviewed by emreyav3 7 / 10

Detail matters

This is the second Aki Kaurismäki film I have seen.The first one was 'The Man Without a Past. After enjoying that a lot, I decided to watch the other movies of Kaurismaki, because I believe he is very good in expressing the 'life' through the simple daily life events or talks. When I watched Ariel, the first thing I noticed was, as in the previous movie, the characters don't speak much, but when they speak they are concise and to the point. The relationships start very abruptly and different from what is normally expected, but all of them end up being loyal and caring. With the beginning of the journey of the miner (Kasurinen) to the south by a convertible car, the movie also starts to present its comedy, romance, action and drama. Kasurinen keeps his calmness through all that happens to him and in the end he achieves his goal. I can recommend this movie to those who like details .
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