Fallen Leaves

Fallen Leaves (2023)

Kuolleet lehdet

In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles – from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.

Date of release
2023-09-14
TMDB
7.1 / 10 (795)
Runtime
1h 21m
Genres
Romance, Drama, Comedy
Director
Aki Kaurismäki

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: €1.4M
  • Awards: 4 · Nominations: 1. Including: Jury Prize; FIPRESCI Grand Prix; APRECI Award for Best International Premiere; Meeting Point Europe Award

Fallen Leaves is a 2023 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. It is Kaurismäki's 20th full-length film and a continuation of his Proletariat series, which was originally planned as a trilogy and already includes Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988), and The Match Factory Girl (1990). Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen star in the main roles. The film is a co-production between Finland and Germany.

Production

Fallen Leaves was produced by Sputnik Oy and Bufo, and co-produced by the German company Pandora Film. The production also received the support of the Finnish Film Foundation, Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, ZDF/ARTE, Filmförderungsanstalt and Film-und Medienstiftung NRW.

Filming began in August 2022 in the Kallio district of Helsinki. Timo Salminen served as director of photography. Production was done "in one take" and in Kaurismäki's typical style, according to Pöysti: "don't rehearse and don't read the script too much".

The time period of the film is unclear, and it has been said to be set in an alternative reality. The wall calendar shown in the film shows autumn 2024, but the news narrated on the radio takes place in the early moments of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tube radios, landline phones and old-fashioned trains are used in the world of the film, among other things.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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