Aki Kaurismäki

Birthday: 4 April 1957, Orimattila, Finland

Birth Name: Aki Olavi Kaurismäki

Height: 195 cm

Aki Kaurismäki did a wide variety of jobs including postman, dish-washer and film critic, before forming a production and distribution company, Villealfa (in homage to Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)) with his older brother Mika Kaurismäki, also a film-maker. Both Aki and Mika are prolific film-makers, and together have been responsible for one-fifth of the total output of the Finnish film industry since the early 1980s, though Aki's work has found more favour abroad. His films are very short (he says a film should never run longer than 90 minutes, and many of his films are nearer 70), eccentric parodies of various genres (road movies, film noir, rock musicals), populated by lugubrious hard-drinking Finns and set to eclectic soundtracks, typically based around '50s rock'n'roll.In the 1990s he has made films in Britain (I Hired a Contract Killer (1990)) and France (La vie de bohème (1992)). Show less «

Coffee? I don't want coffee. To talk about my lousy films I need more than coffee.

[When told he must have been influenced by Bresson] I want to make him seem like a director of epic ...Show more »

[When told he must have been influenced by Bresson] I want to make him seem like a director of epic action pictures. Show less «

Maybe my films are not masterpieces, but they are documents of their time. That's enough for me. Mas...Show more »

Maybe my films are not masterpieces, but they are documents of their time. That's enough for me. Masterpieces I can't do - even though I try. Show less «

I like dogs, mankind I don't care for too much. You're supposed to like mankind because you're part ...Show more »

I like dogs, mankind I don't care for too much. You're supposed to like mankind because you're part of it, but I prefer dogs. They are honest and they don't lie. Show less «

The problem is, I have seen all the other films. All the serious films ever made I have seen, more o...Show more »

The problem is, I have seen all the other films. All the serious films ever made I have seen, more or less. They are so good... and I am so bad. Very early in my so-called career, I knew I would never make a masterpiece. So I decided to make lots of decent films. Show less «

I always start with everyday realism, everyday situations, and I try to go darker and darker and in ...Show more »

I always start with everyday realism, everyday situations, and I try to go darker and darker and in the end, it's melodrama. Even the light has changed: in the beginning, the light is quite normal and in the end, there are big shadows. Show less «

Hollywood has melted everyone's brains. In the old days you had one murder and that was enough for a...Show more »

Hollywood has melted everyone's brains. In the old days you had one murder and that was enough for a story. Now you have to kill 300,000 people just to get the audience's attention. And in Helsinki the violence is not glamorous. It is nameless. There, someone hits you just because they are in a bad mood. Show less «

When I was young, I would sit in the bath and ideas would come to me. But I'm not young any more, so...Show more »

When I was young, I would sit in the bath and ideas would come to me. But I'm not young any more, so now I just sit in the bath. Show less «

I think the more pessimistic I feel about life, the more optimistic the films should be.

I would like to explain the violence in this film. Because it makes me uncomfortable. The problem is...Show more »

I would like to explain the violence in this film. Because it makes me uncomfortable. The problem is this story had to start with violence. So I wanted to at least make it honest. Because if people want to see violence looking good, there is something wrong with their heads. So I make it look as it really is, fast and ugly. This is my rule and my explanation. Show less «

How can you write the dialogue for films about the middle class? They might have as hard mental trou...Show more »

How can you write the dialogue for films about the middle class? They might have as hard mental troubles as anyone else, but the dialogue is impossible. It is easier to be a slave or to be a boss. Show less «

I must make clear that I didn't boycott the New York film festival. I like the New York film festiva...Show more »

I must make clear that I didn't boycott the New York film festival. I like the New York film festival very much. I boycotted the US government. I was at the airport with my ticket in my hand and I heard Abbas wasn't being let in, and I thought, OK, if the US government doesn't want an Iranian film-maker then they won't want a Finn either. And I will not go where I am not wanted. Show less «

I first get a title and then I write a script for the title.

I always decide to put a sad ending but then I feel pity for my characters and put at the last momen...Show more »

I always decide to put a sad ending but then I feel pity for my characters and put at the last moment a happy ending. Show less «

When I write, I am sober. I can direct drunk. I can't edit or write drunk.

Cinema is dead. It died 1962, I think it was in October!

I have two methods. If I have a screenplay, I follow it. If I don't, I improvise. Nobody else improv...Show more »

I have two methods. If I have a screenplay, I follow it. If I don't, I improvise. Nobody else improvises - not the cameraman or the actors. Just me. Show less «

Aki Kaurismäki

Aki Kaurismäki's FILMOGRAPHY

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