Aki Kaurismaki: A Maverick Auteur④

Also, Aki’s films are partially influenced by Luis Bunuel, which contain surrealism style. In The Man Without a Past, M is declared death by the doctor, and then the doctor and nurse move away, M, with the gauze twined over his body, suddenly stands up，and rises from the dead. In the series of Leningrad Cowboy’s films, the plot is based on the adventure of band members traveling around America and finally arrive in Mexico, which is full of offbeat absurdness with their pointy-toed shoes and outrageous pompadour hairdos. While in Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, the plot of CIA running down Moses for stealing the nose of Statue of Liberty is truly hilarious. In Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana, Reino fixed the car by simply moving a big part out of the hood, and similar scenario happens in Juha, when simple and honest Juha pulling out a huge funny spanner to repair Shemeikka’s broken car. From the preference on realism in his early period works to a diversion on grimness, alienation, sagacity and modesty, Aki concentrates more on life itself. In The Man Without a Past, M falls into a Franz Kafka’ way of dilemma. After M lost his memory, he is obstructed by government, banks, and other social institutions. In modern society, human beings are nothing but symbols, bank account numbers, yet the values of being a human itself are often been ignored. Moreover, only in the container slum, does M can pull himself together, and start his life afresh. A shabby container turns to be a neat and clean makeshift home after he washed it, and he plants potatoes in front of his container, which brings a sense of idyll; he loves music, working as a manager for a band; he then falls in love with a Salvation Army female worker. At the end of the film, we finally know his previous life condition, which creates a slight dramatic conflict to the audience.
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