Cinematography by Timo Salminen
Finland/France/Germany, 2011, distributed by Janus Films, color, 93 min.
Cast: André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Blondin Miguel, Little Bob, Jean-Pierre Leaúd
French with English subtitles
True to his profound understanding of the barely-working class and even-more-marginalized job-seekers/dreamers, Finnish writer/director Aki Kaurismaki has created for his 16th feature film a lovely story about aging artist-turned-bootblack Marcel Marx, his unassuming wife Arletty, a young African immigrant Idrissa, and the generally kind-hearted shopkeepers of a humble neighborhood of the northwestern French port city of Le Havre. Once Marcel accidentally discovers the runaway boy, the two inevitably become attached, and the old man provides a small, steady, but unsentimental antidote to the inhumane treatment of immigrants so rife throughout Europe and the Americas. One little story, so much heart.
Screening Info
Opens Friday, November 4, Various Times
Violet Crown Cinema (434 W. 2nd Street)
Tickets: General Admission $9 Matinees / $13 Evening - AFS Members show your membership card to receive a $2 discount on tickets purchased at the box office or by phone during the run of the selection. 512-495-9600)
For more times, visit the Violet Crown Cinema website
Read Chale's blog entry on LE HAVRE