Movie Description
Aki Kaurismäki's THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL is a dark, slow, quiet, mordant, unassumingly sly black comedy about a young woman's bleak existence. The film begins with a documentary-like scene showing the machinations of the match factory where Iris (Kati Outinen) works. She goes about her business in a very structured way, without saying or doing all that much. When she returns to her very plain home, the television is on, and Kaurismäki lets the camera linger on news reports from Tiananmen Square, where a young man is daring a tank. He is offering a most public resistance, whereas Iris does not put up much of a fight. But things change.
THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL is at times almost a silent film, as long takes have virtually no dialogue. In fact, there are extremely few two-way conversations in the entire film. As more and more fate befalls Iris, she just continues on in her slow manner, even when it comes to attempting suicide. There is very little embellishment of any kind in the film, either in sound or set design or camera movement. Even when Iris finally takes matters into her own hands, she does so as if it were like any other day, much like the protagonist in Chantal Akerman's JEANNE DIELMAN. It is no coincidence that Kaurismäki's cinematic idol is Robert Bresson and that he is friends with Jim Jarmusch. THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL is Kaurismäki's minimalist minimasterpiece, able to capture an audience's attention while also causing consternation and bewilderment, leaving viewers unable to ascertain whether they should be laughing or crying.
| Credits | | Producer: | Aki Kaurismäki | | Cast: | Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Marja Packalen, Outi Mäenpää, Reijo Taipale, Vesa Vierikko |
Notes
Theatrical release: January 12, 1990 (Finland)
Filmed on location in Helsinki, Finland.
The Kino video release starts off with a bizarrely entertaining black-and-white music video of the Leningrad Cowboys' version of "Those Were the Days," directed by Kaurismäki, who also directed the band in LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICA in 1989, LENINGRAD COWBOYS MEET MOSES in 1993, and TOTAL BALAILAKA SHOW in 1994.
Aki Kaurismäki appeared in the Finnish section of Jim Jarmusch's NIGHT ON EARTH; Jarmusch appeared in Kaurismäki's LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICA.
The film features music by the Strangers, Badding Rockers, the Renegades, Melrose, and Mauri Sumén, among others.
The film is only 70 minutes long.
There is no dialogue at all for the first 12 minutes of the film.
Editorial Reviews
"...A magnificent conclusion to a trilogy about Finnish working class-heroes....[Kaurismaki] keeps viewers trailing after him by unsettling every expectation..."
James
"...In its despairing, blackly funny empathy, this film is like an early Fassbinder..."
Film Comment - Robert Horton (01/01/1991)
"...It leaves you wide awake and tingling..."
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman (01/29/1993)
"...Kaurismaki's control of tone is nothing short of amazing, as is the degree of complexity he attains with his bare, minimalist, unblinking style....A bold and original filmmaker..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Lloyd Sachs (02/19/1993)
"...Assuredly made..."
USA Today - Mike Clark (12/30/1993)
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