Aki
Kaurismäki Collection Volume 2 in October
16
September 2007
It's
always the same, you get a DVD release of an Aki Kaurismäki
film once in a blue moon and then six films come along
at once. Well almost. Following their September UK DVD
release of The Aki Kaurismäki
Collection: Volume 1 in September, Artificial
Eye are to release a second 3-DVD set in October, unsurprisingly
titled The Aki Kaurismäki Collection: Volume
2. Again the release will feature three of the
Finnish director's earlier films, again getting their
first and very welcome DVD release in the UK.
 |
Take
Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana
(Pidä huivista kiinni, Tatjana,
1994) is a droll tale of longing and awkward romance that
follows two misfits - a coffee addict and a vodka soaked
mechanic - as they hit the road in their Soviet-built
Volga. Along the way they pick up two women, the Estonian
Tatjana (Kati Outinen) and the buxom Russian Klavdia (Kirsi
Tykkyläinen), despite sharing no common language
and being completely clueless as to what to do with them
next. Set to a thumping rock and roll soundtrack, this
beautifully observed and comically understated gem is
classic Kaurismäki.
Another
personal favourite of ours, Drifting Clouds
(Kauas pilvet karkaavat, 1996) follows
the dwindling fortunes of restaurant hostess Ilona and
her tram driver husband Lauri, who find themselves unemployed
at the same time. Embarking on an unforgiving search for
work in a recession-hit Helsinki, Kaurismäki's comic
delight transforms the pair's plight into a hugely affecting
story of hope and survival, and remains particularly memorable
for Lauri's habit of falling into a dead faint at arrival
every bit of bad news.
In
Juha (1999) Kaurismäki brings his
trademark
wistfulness, irony and absurdist humour to the conventions
of the silent film, utilising beautiful black and white
photography, inter-titles and a lush, melodramatic score.
Following the fortunes of Juha, an earnest farm worker
whose wife is seduced away from him by a city slicker,
the film is both a tribute to and a parody of the genre,
delightfully peppered with references to Kaurismäki's
cinematic heroes.
The
Aki Kaurismäki Collection: Volume 2
will be release on UK DVD by Artificial Eye on 10th October
2007 at the RRP of £29.99. All three films have
anamorphic widescreen transfers with Dolby 2.0 sound.
Volume
3 is promised for 22 October and will comprise Crime
and Punishment, Calamar Union,
Hamlet Goes Business and La Vie
de Boheme. On 12 November this will be followed
by The Leningrad Cowboys Collection,
which will include Leningrad Cowboys Go America,
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses and Total
Balalaika Show. Full details will follow.
