Shadows in Paradise

First part of the "working-class trilogy" (followed by Ariel and The Match Factory Girl), Shadows in Paradise begins with scenes from a day in the life of a team of garbage men "that seem almost like the come from a documentary in the way they temporarily block out any fiction, the film beginning with scenes of description rather than a dramatic build-up." (S. Kyösola) "The story of Nikander and Ilona is before all else political, but thanks to the manner in which it's directed, it avoids being controversial. At times strict and austere, the film leaves one with the sensation of errancy and rejection, at other times warm and tender, the film offers a response: love and friendship." (G. Pangon) "Kaurismäki shows the love affair, from its fragile confrontations all the way up to the final union (...) that can only be accomplished through a departure (...) from Finland, that's to say in a detachment, a suspension, elsewhere, timeless." (S. Kyösola)