The Other Side Of Hope

110 Minutes • NR
Film Info
Event Type:Movie
Release Year:2017
Rating:NR
Genre:Drama
Comedy
Production Country:Finland
Original Langauge:Finnish
Arabic
Swedish
Japanese
Subtitles:English
Cast/Crew Info
Director:Aki Kaurismäki
Cast:Sherwan Haji
Sakari Kuosmanen
Janne Hyytiäinen
Screenwriter:Aki Kaurismäki

Description

This wry, melancholic comedy from Aki Kaurismäki, a clear-eyed response to the current refugee crisis, follows two people searching for a place to call home. Displaced Syrian Khaled (Sherwan Haji) lands in Helsinki as a stowaway; meanwhile, middle-aged salesman Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen) leaves behind his wife and job and buys a conspicuously unprofitable seafood restaurant. After Khaled is denied asylum, he decides not to return to Aleppo--and the paths of the two men cross fortuitously. As deadpan as the best of the director's work, and with a deep well of empathy for its down-but-not-out characters (many of them played by members of Kaurismäki's ever-reliable stock company), The Other Side of Hope is a bittersweet tale of human kindness in the face of official indifference.

 

 

 

“This kindhearted, unsentimental movie is a good way to celebrate Finland, which celebrated its 100th anniversary as a free nation last week.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune

 

 

 

“Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki delivers his timeliest and most heartfelt film, mixing humor, pathos, and anger.” - Chicago Reader