Existentialism is just the topping of this pessimistic, black-and-white cake. Kaurismäki knows that the genre of the source material he adapted is drama, but when did some splashes of humor hurt anyone, especially if you have a very rich character development justifying your directorial plot management?

Even if that was not enough, we are offered two sides of a tragedy: the one that comes from the ingratitude towards art when such profession is your profession, and the one that comes with the package called life. Whereas I agree that art in general is a greatly under-appreciated profession, La Vie de Bohème suggests between lines that the true art in this life is the art of living and facing such aforementioned tragedies.

96/100

Trotz einer tragischen Note ein ziemlich lustiger, wundervoll bebilderter Film. Aki Kaurismäki erzählt mit einer an klassische französische Werke erinnernden Optik - und mit seinen typischen Trademarks (vor allem diese tollen Dialoge!) versehen - eine Geschichte von drei Menschen, die als Künstler täglich mit Herausforderungen konfrontiert werden, doch sich immer wieder fangen und dann füreinander da sind, wenn es drauf an kommt. Zudem wird eine schöne Liebes-Story geschildert. Ein toller Film halt!

Blowing it all in a night, banded together for life. Another depressing charmer from Kaurismäki. Everything Matti Pellonpää does is small magic. Drifters and grifters, stealing your heart, and sacrificing bundles of poetry to do so.

Watched for my personal challenge, Farewell FilmStruck, film #25 out of 29.

It seems that the more closely one watches, the more beautiful these films become. This is pretty much perfect film, Aki has always mastered the small gestures that create the cinema but I've never realized just how soulful his actors and actresses actually are; he has the same sense to choose the people who shine just like those old masters, his highly admired Hawks and Ozu from the top of my mind. And not only that, this whole film is set into this mysterious France that doesn't really exist because it exists between times, much like Ford's The Quiet Man where we have this mysterious Ireland that is only from the dreams of Ford's mind. But it is always real to the people who see it from the screen; this wish that things could be different than they actually are, it is reflected in the works of all the great directors and Aki is truly their greatest heir.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Rodolfo the painter with a portrait of his mother. Schaunard the composer with a talent of making his friends say "Listen, I got shit to do". Marcel the playwright with a heavy bag no one wants to carry. Mimi the sweet heartbreaker. The fish with two heads. Baudelaire the dog tricking a fool art collector. Mathis, the three-wheeler so ugly even God goes "I didn't make that".

Kaurismäki's cinema is the cinema of action; for him it is above the importance of image, intent, and the spoken word. He distills it, and offers all the definitions of a Mise-en-scène within the simplicity of his events before it saturates his sober form.

As you lovingly thanked Ozu for his contribution to cinema, and therefore your life, in the same way I will always be thankful to you.
You always know how to close the gap between the furthest edges of loneliness, even if just for a moment.

Kiitos

P.S.
Peltsi, you'll always be sorely missed, there's never been a face quite like yours. For better or worse.

Some of Kaurismäki's most gorgeous mise en scene and composition, La vie de bohème marries the dry dry wit of his earlier stuff with more of his formal experimentation. The acting is more demonstrative, the dialogue is more frequent, and the music cues feel a lot less ironic than in previous Kaurismäki films. This is as funnily tragic and heartbreaking as any of his other films, but has a tighter narrative, which gives the narrative more propulsion. Also, I'm not a Bergman expert (I've never seen his films) but did I detect some Bergman pastiches in this film?

No merecemos una película tan enorme como La vie de boheme. Plantea un modo de vivir que no pertenece a este mundo, uno que dista muchísimo de ser idílico pero que no deja de ser una resistencia dentro del mismo capitalismo y que se funda en la convicción de que hay uno de los tres ideales de la revolución francesa que es posible, y es la fraternidad entre los derrotados.

Farklı kültürlerden çeşit çeşit oyunculuk izledim ama Matti'nin uzun yağlı saçlarını aynaya karşı taradığı sahnelerde hissettiğim oyunculuğu başka hiçbir yerde hissedemedim. Çok iyi bir oyuncu değil ama hissettirmesi önemli.

"a comédia de Werckmeister"

The Criterion Challenge 2021
Progress 8/52
Mi favorita de Kaurismaki hasta ahora. Su más graciosa, su más excéntrica y su más trágica.
En verdad es un excelente retrato de la vida bohemia. Arte infravalofado y mal pagado y artistas que no pueden encajar en un sistema capitalista en el que prefieren vivir en la pobreza que conseguir un trabajo de 8 horas.
Aunque la historia empieza como una tragicomedia y se va tornando progresivamente más oscura, abundan los momentos en dónde sobresale la amistad y el amor. Los personajes te sorprenden demostrando ser mejores personas de lo que uno inicialmente hubiera pensado.
Visualmente es el típico Kaurismaki pero el blanco y negro le da a esta película una cualidad atemporal que le viene muy bien a la historia de artistas viviendo en pensiones y cobrando miserias.

I’m completely blown away. It was so eclectic, but basically a French film (but with Kaurismaki’s distinct touch).

"Rodolfo, te quiero, pero la vida es difícil."

Joy, waste, smoke
High, eitel und broke
Leben der Bohème - mal ehrlich
Bevor ich zu kurz trete sterb ich

👍 90/100

No merecemos una película tan enorme como La vie de boheme. Plantea un modo de vivir que no pertenece a este mundo, uno que dista muchísimo de ser idílico pero que no deja de ser una resistencia dentro del mismo capitalismo y que se funda en la convicción de que hay uno de los tres ideales de la revolución francesa que es posible, y es la fraternidad entre los derrotados.

Found a VHS copy of this in a goodwill, i would have payed ten times what they were asking for it.

Bohemian Life follows the life of three artists in Paris. It's pretty basic Kaurismäki stuff. It moves very slowly and the dialogue is dry but witty. All the leads do well in their fairly minimalistic parts. The score is good and the cinematography looks nice.

Everything I want in watching a film.