Aki Kaurismaki: A maverick auteur ①

Aki Kaurismaki is the only auteur who has a worldwide influence from Finland. "Kaurismaki" literally means "Mountain of Deer". Aki's grandfather took this surname according to Russian culture. No one has this surname in Finland, except for Aki's own family and his wife. Most of his films are based on working class living in the society, embodying the subsistence and frustrated lives of marginal people in urban areas. Meanwhile, Aki’s works contain strong formalism and minimalism cinema, and he is proficient in coping with images, pursuing the pathos of man’s alienation, bleakness and nostalgia, which maximize his personal impact on his films. That’s why we call him an auteur. Aki has his own standpoint as a common person against the grim society, focusing on taciturn individuals’ isolation and frustration, and eventually makes the characters rejuvenated by love and living in tranquility. His cinematic language is considerable distinctive, containing profound sympathy towards working class. Furthermore, his humanistic care and virtuoso cinema skill make him an auteur who puts most emphasis on cinematic aesthetics after Ingmar Bergman in Scandinavia. By the way, after finishing “Fanny and Alexander”, Ingmar Bergman has sold his old Arriflex to Aki Karismaki, and 17 of Aki’s works are shot by this old camera....