‘Fallen Leaves’ stars speak Cannes veteran Aki Kaurismäki

Finnish actors Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen have been making names for one another for some time now. However enjoying leads in Aki Kaurismäki’s newest movie, “Fallen Leaves,” was an entire completely different story.

“He has all the time been that family identify, even once I was rising up on a farm within the Nineteen Eighties, kicking a ball towards our cowhouse. It’s loopy that now, we’re right here collectively. Additionally, he’s actually only a common man. Humorous and he really talks quite a bit,” Vatanen tells Selection in Cannes.

A family identify himself because of the “Lapland Odyssey” franchise, he has been exploring dramatic roles in “Forest Large” or “The Man Who Died.”

“As a Finn, you might be very, very conversant in his model. We’ve got seen all his films and it’s simply in our blood, I assume. I really thought that [entering this universe] was fairly straightforward.”

Pöysti, celebrated for her flip in biopic “Tove” and “4 Little Adults,” provides: “It’s additionally lovely to work with an old-school director, to work on movie, surrounded by a group that has been collectively for 40 years. We come from the digital world, the place you do 100 takes. With him, you get one. It requires an entire completely different type of focus, as a result of we will’t fuck up. No person can. The strain is on and also you get a kick out of it.”

In “Fallen Leaves,” vying for this 12 months’s Cannes Palme d’Or, Pöysti and Vatanen play type, a bit damaged individuals who slowly begin to fall for one another. No person has any cash and jobs are onerous to return by, or to maintain – particularly when one likes to drink. However they carry on attempting, all of the whereas listening to the most recent information in regards to the warfare in Ukraine.

“It’s like that in his different films as effectively: They’re timeless but in addition time particular,” says Pöysti.

“Prior to now, he has been displaying the refugees. Now, it’s Ukraine. The way in which he shoots Helsinki may be very attention-grabbing as effectively, as a result of by means of his movies, you get a narrative a few altering metropolis.”

“A few metropolis that retains consuming itself,” provides her co-star. In addition to cinema, as their characters dwell surrounded by classic movie posters and even watch Jarmusch’s “The Lifeless Don’t Die” at one level.

“Does he discuss cinema along with his actors? All. The. Time. That man lives for it. And about books, about music. However there may be nothing dusty about it – his ardour continues to be alive,” notices Pöysti.  

“It’s onerous to compete with that type of data. The primary time we met, there was this sense that he already had the entire film inside his head,” provides Vatanen.

“He’s the sensei of one-liners. With only a few phrases, he manages to say precisely what he desires. It’s like poetry. The primary time we held the script, there weren’t that many sentences. However you continue to really feel that nothing must be added.”

“Fallen Leaves” is produced by Sputnik and Bufo, with Germany’s Pandora Movie Manufacturing additionally on board. Distributed by Diaphana Distribution, the gross sales are dealt with by The Match Manufacturing unit.  

Whether or not “Fallen Leaves,” the fourth a part of his “working-class trilogy,” can be Kaurismäki’s final stays to be seen, however it’s crammed with acquainted faces. Of pals and collaborators, of “Compartment No. 6” director Juho Kuosmanen or his leads in “The Different Facet of Hope,” Sherwan Haji and Sakari Kuosmanen.

“He gathered his household round him within the movie. Folks he is aware of, individuals he trusts,” notes Vatanen.  

“There’s a lot love for him among the many actors [in Finland], among the many individuals in our trade. Persons are happy with him.”

Pöysti and Vatanen are happy with their characters too, they are saying. Two “working-class heroes” who can arise for themselves when wanted and who regardless of so many disappointments resolve to provide love one other go.

“It’s the shyest love story I’ve ever been in and it requires huge quantities of braveness. I actually admire them for that. They don’t seem to be 17 years outdated anymore, they’re of their forties. It could possibly be simpler to remain alone and but they’re taking this leap,” notes Pöysti, with Vatanen including: 

“In a approach, it’s a superhero film. They’ve quite a lot of braveness. Her superpower is that she will be able to see goodness in individuals when others can’t. At this time, I spotted that the primary time she seems to be at him, she decides he can be her man. In a approach, their story is inevitable.”  

However there can be struggles on the way in which and loads of unhappy songs – together with these delivered by Finnish band Maustetytöt. To not point out a canine, making its characteristic debut, shares Pöysti. 

“It’s a bit as if we had been attempting to say: ‘Bear with us, it’s going to be value it.’ that on the finish of the day, Aki will maintain these individuals.”