On directing > Real Film is Light, Digital is Electricity | Aki Kaurismäki, 1957-
Mariana Castro, Aki Kaurismäki
“I first get a title and then I write a script for the title.”
“I always start with everyday realism, everyday situations, and I try to go darker and darker and in the end, it’s melodrama. Even the light has changed: in the beginning, the light is quite normal and in the end, there are big shadows.”
“I always decide to put a sad ending but then I feel pity for my characters and put at the last moment a happy ending.”
“When I write, I am sober. I can direct drunk. I can’t edit or write drunk.”
“I have two methods. If I have a screenplay, I follow it. If I don’t, I improvise. Nobody else improvises – not the cameraman or the actors. Just me.”
Crime and Punishment, Aki Kaurismäki, 1983
Ariel, Aki Kaurismäki,1988
Hamlet Goes Business, Aki Kaurismäki,1987
“Tragicomedy seems to be my genre. I like to return to the themes of my youth and talk about the little man’s struggle against the faceless machine – and himself – all the while not forgetting about the humor.”
“The problem is, I have seen all the other films. All the serious films ever made I have seen, more or less. They are so good… and I am so bad. Very early in my so-called career, I knew I would never make a masterpiece. So I decided to make lots of decent films.”
“Maybe my films are not masterpieces, but they are documents of their time. That’s enough for me. Masterpieces I can’t do – even though I try.”
The Match Factory Girl, Aki Kaurismäki, 1990
I Hired a Contract Killer, Aki Kaurismäki, 1990
La Vie de Bohème, Aki Kaurismäki, 1992
“How can you write the dialogue for films about the middle class? They might have as hard mental troubles as anyone else, but the dialogue is impossible. It is easier to be a slave or to be a boss.”
“Of course, the working class is not such a sexy and commercial subject, I understand from the popcorn audience. But I couldn’t write dialogue for upper-class people because I wouldn’t know what they say. I don’t know if they talk at all. Maybe they are just shopping. And selling and buying stocks. Stocks and stockings. I find rich people boring.”
“I think the more pessimistic I feel about life, the more optimistic the films should be. This is the way I think about it. Life is too sad to bear and there is no hope for anyone. So now, let us drink to happy endings.”
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana, Aki Kaurismäki, 1994
Drifting Clouds, Aki Kaurismäki, 1996
The Man Without a Past, Aki Kaurismäki, 2002
“I would like to explain the violence in this film. Because it makes me uncomfortable. The problem is this story had to start with violence. So I wanted to at least make it honest. Because if people want to see violence looking good, there is something wrong with their heads. So I make it look as it really is, fast and ugly. This is my rule and my explanation.”
“Hollywood has melted everyone’s brains. In the old days you had one murder and that was enough for a story. Now you have to kill 300,000 people just to get the audience’s attention. And in Helsinki the violence is not glamorous. It is nameless. There, someone hits you just because they are in a bad mood.”
“I must make clear that I didn’t boycott the New York film festival. I like the New York film festival very much. I boycotted the US government. I was at the airport with my ticket in my hand and I heard Abbas wasn’t being let in, and I thought, OK, if the US government doesn’t want an Iranian film-maker then they won’t want a Finn either. And I will not go where I am not wanted.”
Lights in the Dusk, Aki Kaurismäki, 2006
Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki, 2011
The Other Side of Hope, Aki Kaurismäki, 2017
“I am a film-maker, not a pixel-maker.”
“Real film is light, digital is electricity.”
“Cinema is dead. It died 1962, I think it was in October!” *
“Maybe cinema died together with La Jetée by Chris Marker, 1962″
“I never had very high hopes of humanity. I had hope 20 years ago, but not now. Greed will kill us – and maybe that’s OK for the planet. Because it all goes back to money. Everything goes back to money.”
“When I was young, I would sit in the bath and ideas would come to me. But I’m not young any more, so now I just sit in the bath.”
Aki Kaurismäki, 1957-
* This sentence is a nod to Yasujiro Ozu‘s last film An Autumn Afternoon: A Fond Farewell. Aki Kaurismäki became a director only from inspiration to follow Ozu’s style.
Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki, 2023
