LIGHTS IN THE DUSK

 The miniatures of Aki Kaurismaki are among the best European art movies of the last forty years though calling them 'art movies' is putting them in a very narrow bracket since their content alone gives them a universal appeal. These little stories, funny and sad in equal measure, deal with the most understandable and basic of subjects, human relationships, though admittedly Kaurismaki does choose oddball characters and sets them down in the most unprepossessing of locations.

"Lights in the Dusk" is about a lonely and unpopular night-watchman, (Janne Hyytiainen), who wants to break away from the life he leads and start his own business though basically that's a pipedream. He starts to date a young woman he meets in a bar but in typical Kaurismaki fashion it's a very monosyllabic relationship, (she's actually been planted in his life by a crooked businessman for his own unscrupulous ends).

This is an observational film about the kinds of people other filmmakers wouldn't think of observing, shot in the sharp, neon colours Kaurismaki favours, (his characters are like people in an Edward Hopper painting). Since robbery is involved you could call this a thriller and any other director would have concentrated on the 'action' but Kaurismaki is more interested in 'inaction', in what isn't said and what doesn't happen, and yet it's never boring. Kaurismaki has the knack of making us care about characters who are often no more than cyphers. it's a potentially grim little story and perhaps not a very likely one but as always Kaurismaki has the last laugh. Ultimately there is a lot more humanity here than initially meets the eye.