Ariel (1988)

Hello Hello Moody

Ingmar Bergman made a film at the dawn of his career named “It Rains on My Future,” and I thought of that title while I was watching “Ariel.” This is the new film by Aki Kaurismaki, the director from Finland whose work has been winning festivals and inspiring articles in film magazines calling him the best young director from Europe. I went expecting to see the new Fassbinder or Herzog or Almodovar, and what surprised me was how traditional the film is; it’s a despairing film noir with a “happy” ending that taunts us with its irony.

The story involves Taisto, a miner from northern Finland who loses his job when the mine closes. He sits in a cafe with a depressed friend who gives him his old Cadillac convertible and then walks into the men’s room and blows his brains out. Taisto drive...