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Crappy film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Minor spoiler alert! I'm still trying to figure out how to rate this movie. I just watched it last night (07/15/2017), but I don't know what to think of it. The synopsis asks if Nikander can break his losing streak. Well, if he did the right thing, that which his heart advised him to do, then his losing streak was broken. However, did he do it or not? I couldn't tell. His intentions were pure, but the full evidence/proof of his action was not known. Interesting to say the least. How does one know if he returned what was in the box with the box he did return? You'll have to watch to see for yourself. What was this movie about? A loser? Whose watching it? The loser in all of us?This movie has a high rating, but probably because of it's simplicity and it's depiction of every day characters, which is played out very well considering the 80's filming decade with the popularity of cigarettes, etc. To me, the movie was good, not great! I'll give it a decent rating because of the English subtitles and the ease of reading them, while trying to watch the movie. At the very least, I could have my television volume down low and read what they were saying, all the while trying to figure out why the words go with the pictures. I'm into foreign films as well, so I appreciate the opportunities to watch some of them.

This was part of a set of three movies by the same director, but after seeing this movie I had no desire to see the others.The box describes "Shadows In Paradise" as a romantic comedy. But the romance is lifeless and there are at best only a few mild chuckles. We don't really know-or find much reason to take interest in-any of the characters.The premise could have made a good story. Nikander is a middle-aged man who is now a garbage collector but used to be a butcher (but we don't find out more). Ilona is a woman who keeps losing jobs through no fault of her own, and steals her former employer's cash box out of revenge. They meet and have an on-again, off-again romance, and Nikander also rescues an unemployed man from prison and has him get a job as a fellow garbage collector. This man has a wife and child, though he says their relationship is unhappy.Unfortunately, everyone seems to be just going through the motions. Nikander has the same expression throughout the movie, as do most of the actors; aspects of the characters are mentioned but they remain undeveloped, and overall, there is no tension or excitement, and at a mere 75 minutes the movie seems overlong. The critics who praise it seem to be the sort who think any non-American film must be wonderful.

Aki Kaurismaki is like a Finnish Jim Jarmusch--deadpan and flatly paced, though in color and cut a little bit quicker. Shadows in Paradise shares a lot with Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise, especially the first half, in that the existent romance between the leads is so undertoned it's almost invisible, and can break like gossamer. Nevertheless, also like gossamer, it's stronger than most people imagine and somehow the characters end up coming through to each other in the end. Though really, it's not like they had anything better to do with their lives, living in cold, muted, and poor Finland.In terms of plot points, there's not much. A garbage man dates a grocery store cashier, but their relationship is rocky from the beginning and hardly mutually satisfying. She ends up getting fired, and steals a cashbox from her former employer for revenge. This sort of forces the two together, though it's not like that makes their relationship really start--it's when the man gets beaten up and decides there's nothing else he really wants to do that he insists that they work it out. In the meantime, there's a lot of droll, flat Finnish activity and depression to look at.Even though it ends in the cruise it's far from an elated ending, and even in scenes where characters get mightily depressed and break up, it's far from depressing. Kaurismaki has an almost "Eh, it is what it is" philosophy about everything in this movie, and the dialog feels like it's subtle when in fact it's really amazingly direct, and all of the characters mean what they say.--PolarisDiB

After a stunning debut, Crime and Punishment, and a bizarre, experimental second feature, Calamari Union, Aki Kaurismäki began doing what he's best at: telling the stories of Finnish underdogs'everyday experiences. And it all started with Shadows in Paradise, the first installment of the "workers trilogy" (continued with Ariel and The Match Factory Girl), and arguably Kaurismäki's finest film (at least until he made The Man Without a Past). It also marked his first collaboration with Kati Outinen, who has become the very symbol, alongside the late Matti Pellonpää, of Kaurismäki's cinema.Fittingly, Pellonpää and Outinen are the leading couple of shadows in Paradise. He reprises the role of Nikander he previously played in Crime and Punishment, with more English lessons (which originate his best line, at the end of the film) and trouble at work: his plans to start his own business get buried with his associate (Esko Nikkari), who commits suicide five minutes into the movie. While looking for a new job, he meets Ilona (Outinen), who works as a cashier in a Helsinki supermarket. The two start hanging out, eventually forming a sweet, if platonic, bond, occasionally threatened by Nikander's apparent cynicism.The film's magic resides entirely in its minimalism: little dialogue, sober settings, raw, Finnish humor, real, likable characters and no overacting, as Kaurismäki tells his simple, universal, incredibly touching love story. Pellonpää and Outinen's understated, affecting performances complete each other, with valuable support from Sakari Kuosmanen as Melartin, Nikander's best friend, who even steals from his own daughter to finance his buddy's dates. Not that his behavior is exemplary, but it shows how much these people care for each other, and that's where Kaurismäki succeeds: he makes us emphasize with these characters despite their many flaws, and delivers an astounding, memorable picture.A true masterpiece of Finnish film-making, from the best director that country has ever spawned.