Helsinki. Ilona loses her job as a head waitress in Dubrovnik restaurant at the same time that her husband Lauri loses his job as a tram driver. As now are both unemployed, they try to make ends meet. Lauri is offered a job as a bus driver, but fails the medical exam because he hears weaker on one ear. Ilona bribes an employment agent to get a new job immediately, but it is as a cook and waitress in a shabby bar that quickly gets shut down by the audit for not paying taxes. Ilona and Lauri invest all their money into a casino, but he loses it all in the bet. However, Ilona meets her former boss and she gives her money to open up a new restaurant, which attracts many customers.
Aki Kaurismaki's 12th feature length film is a gently ironic and uplifting depiction of unemployment, a depressive topic that he luckily refuses to treat too seriously. Similarly like most of his films, Kaurismaki directs the film in a minimalist, laconic style, incorporating bizarre-dry humor and de-dramatized acting reminiscent of Bresson's films, and the main actress Kati Outinen is charming as the heroine Ilona. The film is overstretched and with some empty walk, but the intermittent humor gives it a refreshing touch. In one of the most amusing scenes, Lauri goes to complain at the cashier after exiting the screening of a film at a cinema: ''I want my money back.'' - ''What for?'' - ''Unbearable rubbish. Get me my dough!'' - ''You didn't even pay.'' - ''So what! Cheating people. Goodbye!'', as he picks up his dog from the coatrack. The way Lauri loses his job as a tram driver is also amusing: the boss summons all the employees, and announces that he will fire four based on them picking a card from the deck of cards. In another funny situation, Ilona finds work in a shabby bar where she is the only employee—when one man orders something to eat, she goes to the kitchen door, pretends to pass the message to the cook, and then discretely goes inside the kitchen and prepares the meal quickly by herself. Kaurismaki paints an exaggerated and yet accurate depiction of Finnish mentality and small little quirks, filming everything in flat cinematography and medium-wide shots, creating a fine feeling of the people living there, despite the rather naive ending. Still, as the title implies, human existence is just a random drifting of chance: there are bad times and good times, but just like the clouds, this cycle dissolves and re-assembles repeatedly. Everything here is artificial, and yet the viewers are still able to decipher some basic human truths from it.
Grade:+++
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