Genre: Drama | Romance | Dark Comedy | Finnish Cinema
Fallen Leaves is a quiet, tender gem that feels like a bittersweet sigh—a reminder that even in a world weighed down by loneliness and routine, the smallest gestures of human connection can bloom into something beautiful. Released in 2023 and directed by the beloved Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, this film is both a return to form and a soft evolution for the director, whose trademark deadpan humor and deep compassion for everyday people are as strong as ever.
Set in modern-day Helsinki, Fallen Leaves follows Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), two lonely souls adrift in an indifferent city. Ansa works stocking shelves in a supermarket; Holappa drifts from one manual job to another, numbing his quiet despair with too much drink. Their lives are unremarkable on the surface—gray apartments, empty bus rides, radios echoing news of distant wars. But when these two strangers meet by chance in a karaoke bar, an unlikely, hesitant romance begins to flicker.
In typical Kaurismäki fashion, the film unfolds in a world both timeless and slightly out of step with modern life. The décor is retro, the bars feel like they haven’t changed in 40 years, and the characters speak in clipped, stoic exchanges that hide a well of longing underneath. There’s almost no music score—just the hum of everyday life and the melancholy tunes that play on the radio or in smoky bars.
What makes Fallen Leaves shine is its absolute faith in the tiny, mundane acts that bind people together: a glance across a table, a shared cup of coffee, a borrowed coat when the Helsinki wind blows too cold. Ansa and Holappa say little, but their silences brim with warmth and fragile hope. Their story isn’t about grand declarations of love; it’s about showing up for each other, awkwardly but earnestly, in a world that so often looks away.
Kaurismäki weaves his trademark dark humor through every frame—dry, understated jokes that land like sighs from people who’ve seen too much but still haven’t given up on small joys. And behind the simplicity, there’s a quiet defiance: a belief that kindness and tenderness are tiny acts of rebellion in a cold, noisy world.
Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen give beautifully restrained performances, carrying so much emotion in the smallest gestures—a shy smile, a hand offered in silence. Their chemistry feels real because it’s so ordinary, so easy to root for. It’s love not as a lightning strike, but as a soft light that keeps the darkness at bay.
Fallen Leaves may be slight in plot but it’s rich in heart. It’s a film that leaves you with the gentle ache of knowing that while the world keeps spinning with its wars, layoffs, and daily indignities, there’s still time—always time—for two people to find each other and decide that life can be just a little better together than alone.
For anyone who loves cinema that celebrates the poetry of everyday lives, Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves is a quiet triumph—funny, sad, and tender enough to warm even the loneliest nights.
