The Man Without a Past – 2002 Kaurismäki

Kaurismäki is an auteur who has amassed a strong body of work—and only as a collection can the work be properly appreciated — but The Man Without a Past is one of his best works to date
Like Shadows in Paradise and Ariel a man gets clobbered in on the head

A Christ allegory a story of resurrection
Like much of Kaurismäki’s work there are long quiet stretches and some of the best stretches could be compared to silent cinema—it is 10 minutes before Markku Peltola has a word to say
Like all of Kaurismäki’s work, it is about blue collar workers- Peltola’s character is a welder, his love interest (Kaurismäki regular Kati Outinen)- and this is a love story/fable, works for the Salvation Army (which plays a big role in the film) where a picture of Christ hangs in the dressing room– he lives in a container (like a trailer), goes to the soup kitchen, has working man’s hands— these are Biblically bad times, Steinbeck-like
In the text “I’ll deny you thrice like Peter…”
4-5 sublime mise-en-scene arrangements

Minimalist cinema, on paper it reads like a drama (even a depressing one) but there’s Kaurismäki’s trademark deadpan approach. An ironically soft watch dog named Hannibal
One of the great frames is at 41 minutes- Peltola’s character has a broom looking into the circle window of the Salvation Army

In the text- “greed is a mortal sin” and then argued back is “the state supports business” as he takes his money
In the bar, front and center, there’s a portrait of Kaurismäki regular Matti Pellonpää who passed away at a crazy young age in 1995. He was Kaurismäki go-to male lead
Live music woven in—song “mercy”
Another strong frame at 76 minutes, Kaurismäki frames him by the green doors of the container smoking sitting on the ground