Film Forum

(2011) A bohemian shoeshiner (André Wilms, reprising his role from LA VIE DE BOHÈME), joined by Kaurismäki favorite Kati Outinen (THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST) and a community of French characters who seem to have emerged from the films of Marcel Carne, shield from the authorities a young African immigrant (Blondin Miguel) who winds up in the French port city. The dog is played by Laïka. 35mm print courtesy of Janus Films. Approx. 93 mins.

Reviews

“Exquisite. Strange and delightful…Aki Kaurismäki, a Finnish director who makes mordant, wistful black comedies laced with intense cinematic and pop-culture nostalgia, is pretty much the last person you’d expect to make a movie about Europe’s ‘refugee problem’ (what we would call illegal immigration)…For the right kind of film buff, it’s absolutely one of the most enjoyable pictures of the year -- and if you’ve never heard of the guy before, I can’t imagine a better place to start.”
– Andrew O’Hehir, Salon

“A contemporary fable set in a place constructed from blocks of French cinematic history, Le Havre is one of Aki Kaurismaki’s warmest, most engaging films.”
– Mark Jenkins, NPR

“A stylized and sentimental fairy tale about the way the world might be, grounded in a frank recognition of the way it is.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times 

“LE HAVRE is warm-hearted and uplifting, without being schmaltzy or preachy. And, with its illegal-alien theme, it’s dead-on timely.”
– V.A. Musetto, New York Post 

“Made in the spirit of Capra or De Sica or other such humanists who seem to have vanished from the ranks of filmmaking…the French cinema’s most profound qualities, at long last, are now improbably resurrected by a Finnish director. LE HAVRE is naive and intelligent, intimate and minimalist, with an overwhelming feel for a better world and its possibilities.”
– Peter von Bagh, Film Comment