What’s the point of life when it feels like society’s collectively headed off a cliff? We can either try to enjoy what little time we have left … or shut down entirely, succumbing to our vices since we’re convinced we won’t live long enough for the consequences to matter, anyway. This might seem like a horribly depressing way to convince anyone to check out a movie, but allow us to assure you that “Fallen Leaves” is a bright ray of hope amid the darkness.
Directed by Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, known for his focus on blue-collar workers fighting tooth and nail to avoid being crushed under the gears of capitalism, his latest movie is set in Helsinki with the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine uncomfortably existing in the background. Hopelessness pervades every scene in the early going as we follow Ansa Grönholm (a brilliant Alma Pöysti), a lonesome woman struggling to make ends meet. Flitting from job to job due to pressures she’s hardly responsible for, the opportunities available to her are hardly glamorous: a grocery store clerk, a dishwasher at a run-down bar, and a factory worker on the line. She’s not the only one stuck on a never-ending conveyor belt, though the walking disaster Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) is entirely at fault for his own alcoholism, smoking addiction, and fatalistic worldview.
The eventual meeting and rocky romance between the two almost feels inevitable, as does the creative choice to feature symbolic shades of red in practically every scene — sometimes as a warning, others as a representation of love. Yet there’s something beautiful about even the most lost and loneliest of souls determined to find meaning together in a world of fallen leaves.
“Fallen Leaves” is currently available to stream on Mubi.