Movie Review

Lights in the Dusk (2007)

EW's GRADE
B

Details Limited Release: Jun 13, 2007; Rated: Unrated; Length: 80 Minutes; Genres: Drama, Foreign Language; With: Janne Hyytiainen and Maria Jarvenhelmi

 HE GOT SERVED The joke\'s on Hyytiáinen (right, with Järvenhelmi) in the deadpan Dusk
HE GOT SERVED The joke's on Hyytiáinen (right, with Järvenhelmi) in the deadpan Dusk

Gloomy Finnish jokester auteur Aki Kaurismäki calls Lights in the Dusk, a characteristically deadpan study, the third in his ''loser trilogy.'' (The Man Without a Past and Drifting Clouds came before.) Here, in a minimalist sketch best suited to already committed Aki-ites, a lonely night watchman (Janne Hyytiäinen) is used by a callous femme semi-fatale (Maria Järvenhelmi) in cahoots with a criminal businessman. Then his life is ruined. But wait — there's great music, an excellent dog, and that indescribable Kaurismäki tension between misery and a cosmic joke. B

Originally posted Jun 13, 2007 Published in issue #940 Jun 22, 2007 Order article reprints
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