Aki Kaurismäki Totally Explained

Everything about Aki Kaurism Ki totally explained

Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (born April 4, 1957 in Orimattila, Finland) is a Finnish script writer and film director.

Career

Aki Kaurismäki started his career as a co-director in the films of his elder brother Mika Kaurismäki. His debut as an independent director was Crime and Punishment (1983), Dostoevsky's famous crime story set in modern-day Helsinki.
   He gained worldwide fame with his movie Leningrad Cowboys Go America.
   His style has been influenced a lot by such directors as Jean-Pierre Melville and Robert Bresson, as he relies on low-key acting and simple cinematic storytelling to get his message(s) across. Critics have also seen an influence from Rainer Werner Fassbinder but Kaurismäki - a keen film buff himself - has said that he somehow never got around to seeing any Fassbinder movies until recent years. His movies have a unique downplayed humorous side that can also be seen in the films of Jim Jarmusch, who has a cameo in Kaurismäki's film Leningrad Cowboys Go America. Jarmusch also used frequent Kaurismäki actors in his film Night on Earth, a part of which takes place in Helsinki, Finland.
   Much of his work is centred on his native city of Helsinki, particularly Calamari Union which is largely set in the working class neighbourhood of Kallio, and the trilogy that comprises Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. His vision of Helsinki is, it should be noted, both critical and singularly unromantic. Indeed, the characters often speak about how they wish to get away from Helsinki: some end up in South America [Ariel], others in Estonia [KalamariUnion and Take Care of Your Scarf Tatjana]. The setting is the 1980s, even in the more recent movies.

Awards and protests

In terms of awards, Kaurismäki's most successful movie to date has been The Man Without a Past. It won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2003. However, Kaurismäki refused to attend the gala, noting that he didn't particularly feel like partying in a nation that's currently in a state of war. Kaurismäki's next film Lights in the Dusk was also chosen to be Finland's nominee in the category for best foreign film. Kaurismäki again decided to boycott the Awards and refused the nomination as a protest against US President George W. Bush's foreign policy (External Link

).
In 2003, in one of his most famous protests, Kaurismäki boycotted the 40th New York Film Festival backing his Iranian fellow director, Abbas Kiarostami who was categorically refused a US visa for the festival. Kaurismäki later said :
Filmography

Feature films

Rikos ja rangaistus (Crime and Punishment), 1983
Calamari Union, 1985
Varjoja paratiisissa (Shadows in Paradise), 1986
Hamlet liikemaailmassa (Hamlet Goes Business), 1987
Ariel, 1988
Likaiset kädet (Les mains sales), 1989 (production for Finnish TV)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America, 1989
Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (The Match Factory Girl), 1990
I Hired a Contract Killer, 1990
Boheemielämää (La vie de bohème), 1992
Pidä huivista kiinni, Tatjana (Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana), 1994
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, 1994
Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), 1996
Juha, 1999
Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) (2002)
Laitakaupungin valot (2006) (Lights in the Dusk)

Documentaries

Saimaa-ilmiö (Saimaa Gesture), 1981

Total Balalaika Show, 1994

Short films

Rocky VI, 1986 (8 min)

Through the Wire, 1987 (6 min)

Rich Little Bitch, 1987 (6 min)

L.A. Woman, 1987 (5 min)

Those Were The Days, 1991 (5 min)

These Boots, 1992 (5 min)

Välittäjä, 1996?

Dogs Have No Hell, 2002 (10 minute episode in the collaborative film Ten Minutes Older - The Trumpet)Further Information

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