The Man Without a Past

Director: Aki Kaurismaki

5 April 2024

See

Him: M (Markku Peltola) a welder in Finland gets off a train with his suitcase, sits on a park bench at night and is assaulted by hooligans. He survives, but has amnesia. Relying on the kindness of strangers, he begins to build a life among drifters. Gets his own shipping container, veggie patch, friends and Salvation Army crush Irma (Kati Outinen).

Think

Him: As his life improves through a series of hijinx, like seeing welders working and giving it a go, then getting a job which doesn’t pay cash, going to a bank that’s held up by a robber (Esko Nikkari) whose intentions are good, then carrying out his final wish. M’s past comes back to his present and he has to decide, go back or keep moving forward?

Feel

Him: Quo Vadis, Orpheus… or if you do look back, realise how good your present is and future can be. Kaurismaki does it again with loveable losers, darkly comedics Fins with whom you laugh at over misfortune, recognising a better way to handle one's own setbacks.