THE AKI KAURISMÄKI COLLECTION Vol. 2
The deadpan wit of Finnish filmmaker CRIME AND PUNISHMENT CALAMARI UNION HAMLET GOES BUSINESS LA VIE DE BOHÈME
Aki Kaurismäki has made him a cult sen-
sation. This collector’s edition features
digitally remastered presentations of
three of his most acclaimed features.
- Kaurismäki’s first feature follows the descent into crimeof Rahikainen, a slaughterhouse
worker and former lawstudent, who murders a businessman and then begins a tense game of
cat and mouse with the police. Effectivelyupdating Dostoevsky’s great novel to 1980s Helsinki, thisremarkably assured debut offers a sharp critique ofFinnish society.
Finland/ Germany 1983, 93 minutes, 16:9, Dolby Digital 2.0
- A group of men, all bar one called Frank, abandon their downtrodden neighbourhood in search
of Eira – a near mythical district across town that promises a better life. Kaurismäki’s second
features details their misadventures along the way with deadpan humour and rock and roll atti-
tude. Finland/ Germany 1985, 80 minutes, 16:9, Dolby Digital 2.0
- In this wicked and hilarious satire of the corporate world, Kaurismäki liberally updates Shakes-
peare’s tragedy as a hard-boiled noir b-movie. Finnish comic Pirkka-Pekka Petelius plays an ir-
responsible playboy who finds himself involved in a vicious boardroom power struggle with his
uncle, who plans to sell off his company’s assets in order to corner the market on swedish rub-
ber ducks.
Finland 1987, 86 minutes, 16:9, Dolby Digital 2.0
- Freely adapted from Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, this is Kaurismäki’s highly individual take on
the story of three bohemian artists – a poet, a painter and a composer – set in a timeless Paris.
shifting between heartbreaking drama and black humour, the fine cast features cameos from
Jean- Pierre Léaud, Sam Fuller and Louis Malle.
Finland 1992, 100 minutes, 16:9, Dolby Digital 5.1
