Whanganui Film Society has another of famed Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's early films this week — those who love the director's black sense of humour and distinctive stylistic sensibilities will flock to it.
The Match Factory Girl (1990) is the closing film in Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy (of which Shadows in Paradise was the first). This is a thematic trilogy so each film works as a standalone.
The Match Factory Girl (Tulitkkutehtaan tyttö)
Monday, June 24, 7pm
Davis Theatre, Whanganui Regional Museum
Aki Kaurismäki • Finland • 1990 • 69 mins • PG • In Finnish with English subtitles
This mordantly funny tale of revenge features a memorable performance from Kaurismäki regular Kati Outinen.
"A weirdo masterpiece ... funky and minimalist, caustic and heartfelt, puckishly wry and despairingly dark."
— LA Times
Film Society memberships are available at the venue and online; more information can be found at www.whanganuifilmsociety.org.nz.
SYNOPSIS
"Kaurismäki took his penchant for despairing character studies to unspeakably grim depths in the shockingly entertaining The Match Factory Girl. Kati Outinen is memorably impenetrable as Iris, whose grinding days as a cog in a factory wheel, and nights as a neglected daughter living with her parents, ultimately send her over the edge. Yet despite her transgressions, Kaurismäki makes Iris a compelling, even sympathetic figure. Bleak yet suffused with comic irony, The Match Factory Girl closes out the Proletariat Trilogy with a bang — and a whimper." — Criterion
