Juha

by Aki Kaurismäki

Juha

Synopsis

Literature is full of triangle dramas, but very few of them can beat Juhani Aho’s »Juha« (1998) for deepness of emotions and understanding of all three parties. The story is straight and strong, yet full of detail, just waiting to be ruined by cinematic means.

I had planned to film »Juha« almost as long as we had planned to make a silent movie with composer Anssi Tikanmäki. One day we were clever enough to put the ideas together and the catastrophe was ready.

Afterwards I’m not surprised that all efforts (except Tati’s »Mon Oncle«) to make a silent film during the last decades have somehow failed; the easiness of explaining all by words has polluted our story telling to a pale shadow of original cinema.

We can never again make films like »Broken Blossoms«, »Sunrise« or »Queen Kelly« because since film started to gable with mumble and all that hoochie-coochie and fancy words, stories have lost their purity, cinema its essence: innocence. (Aki Kaurismäki)

Director

Aki Kaurismäki, writer, director, editor and producer. Born in Finland 4.4.1957, but...

Films as a director:

1981
»The Saimaa Gesture«
(Co-Dir. with Mika Kaurismäki)

1983
»Crime And Punishment«

1985
»Calamari Union«

1986
»Shadows In Paradise«
»Rocky VI« (Short)

1987
»Hamlet Goes Business«
»Thru The Wire« (Short)
»L.A.Woman« (Short)
»Rich Little Bitch« (Short)

1988
»Ariel«

1989
»Leningrad Cowboys Go America«
»Dirty Hands« (TV Film)

1990
»The Match Factory Girl«
»I Hired A Contract Killer«

1991
»Those Were The Days« (Short)
»These Boots« (Short)

1992
»La Vie De Boheme«

1993
»Total Balalaika Show - Helsinki Concert« (Documentary)

1994
»Take Care Of Your Scarf - Tatjana«
»Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses«

1996
»Drifting Clouds«

1998
»Juha«

2002
»The Man Without A Past«, »Dogs Have No Hell« (Short)

2004
»Bico« (Short)

2006
»Lights In The Dusk«

Cast

Sakari Kuosmanen
Kati Outinen
André Wilms

Crew

Producer: Aki Kaurismäki
Script: Aki Kaurismäki
Based on a novel by Juhani Aho
Camera: Timo Salminen
Sound: Anssi Tikanmäki
Editing: Aki Kaurismäk
A production of Villealfa Productions Oy

Technical Data

Format: 35 mm / 1:1,66 / black and white / Dolby Digital
Length: 78 min.
Original language: Finnish

Original title: Juha

Juha
Juha

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