Winner of the Jury Prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in 2023, Kaurismäki’s 20th full-length film continues his Proletariat series. It tells the story of Ansa, a supermarket shelf-stocker on a zero-hour contract, later a recyclable plastic sorter, and Holappa, a sandblaster, an alcoholic, later an ex-alcoholic, whose paths have accidentally crossed and who, despite adversity and misunderstandings, try to build some kind of relationship on the harsher side of the welfare state. As dour as it may sound, this is an unexpectedly uplifting film with its droll, deadpan humour, and poignant central story of two lonely souls connecting.
