The Man Without a Past

The Man Without a Past
International poster
Directed by	Aki Kaurismäki
Produced by	Aki Kaurismäki
Written by	Aki Kaurismäki
Starring	Markku Peltola Kati Outinen Juhani Niemelä
Music by	Leevi Madetoja
Cinematography	Timo Salminen
Edited by	Timo Linnasalo
Release dates	March 1, 2002 (2002-03-01)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Finland
Language	Finnish
Budget	€1,206,000^[1]
Box office	$9,564,237

The Man Without a Past (Finnish: Mies vailla menneisyyttä) is a 2002 Finnish comedy-drama film directed by Aki Kaurismäki and starring Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen and Juhani Niemelä. It is the second installment in Kaurismäki's Finland trilogy, the other two films being Drifting Clouds (1996) and Lights in the Dusk (2006). The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002 and won the Grand Prix at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Plot

The film begins with an unnamed man arriving by train to Helsinki. After falling asleep in Kaisaniemi Park, he is mugged and beaten by hoodlums and is severely injured in the head, losing consciousness. He awakes and wanders back to the train station and collapses in its bathroom. He awakes the second time in a hospital and finds that he has lost his memory. He starts his life from scratch, living in container dwellings, finding clothes with help from the Salvation Army and making friends with the poor.

Cast

Markku Peltola as M
Kati Outinen as Irma
Juhani Niemelä as Nieminen
Kaija Pakarinen as Kaisa Nieminen
Sakari Kuosmanen as Anttila
Annikki Tähti as Manager of Flea Market
Anneli Sauli as Bar Owner
Elina Salo as Dock Clerk
Outi Mäenpää as Bank Clerk
Esko Nikkari as Bank Robber
Pertti Sveholm as Police Detective
Matti Wuori as himself (lawyer)
Aino Seppo as Ex-wife
Janne Hyytiäinen as Ovaskainen
Antti Reini as Electrician

Production

The Man Without a Past was co-produced by the Finnish companies Sputnik and YLE, the German companies Bavaria Film Studios and Pandora Filmproduktion and the French company Pyramide Productions.

Critical reception

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes rated it 98%,^[3] while Metacritic rated it 84,^[4] which, according to the website's criteria, classifies the film's reception as "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert awarded the film 3½ stars out of 4, saying he "felt a deep but indefinable contentment".^[5] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said the film "contains not one false note. It is the work of an artist fully in control of his art."^[6] Barbara Scharres of the Chicago Reader said that Kaurismäki "perfects his trademark formula of deadpan humor and arctic circle pathos in this brilliantly ironic 2002 comedy."^[7]

Awards and nominations

List of awards and nominations
Award	Year	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
ACCEC Awards	2002	Best Foreign Film	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
Academy Awards	2002	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated	^[8]
Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	2002	Best Foreign Film		Nominated
Bangkok International Film Festival	2003	Best Actress	Kati Outinen	Won	^[9]^[10]^[11]
		Best Screenplay	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
		Best Film	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
Bodil Awards	2002	Best Non-American Film	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
Camerimage	2002	Golden Frog	Timo Salminen	Nominated
Cannes Film Festival	2002	Best Actress	Kati Outinen	Won	^[12]
		Grand Prize of the Jury	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
		Prize of the Ecumenical Jury	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
		Golden Palm	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
		Palm Dog	Tähti	Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	2002	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated
César Awards	2002	Best European Union Film		Nominated
European Film Awards	2002	Audience Award - Best Director	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
		Best Actor	Markku Peltola	Nominated
		Best Actress	Kati Outinen	Nominated
		Best Cinematographer	Timo Salminen	Nominated
		Best Director	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
		Best Film	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
		Best Screenwriter	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
Fajr Film Festival	2002	International Competition - Best Screenplay	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards	2002	Best Foreign-Language Film		Nominated
Flanders International Film Festival	2002	Grand Prix	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
Guldbagge Awards	2002	Best Foreign Film		Won
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	2002	Best Director - Foreign Film	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
Jussi Awards	2002	Best Film		Won
		Best Actress	Kati Outinen	Won
		Best Cinematography	Timo Salminen	Won
		Best Direction	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
		Best Editing	Timo Linnasalo	Won
		Best Script	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
		Best Actor	Markku Peltola	Nominated
Lübeck Nordic Film Days	2002	Audience Prize	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
National Society of Film Critics Awards	2002	Best Foreign Language Film		Won
Nordic Council	2002	Nordic Council's Film Prize	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
Palm Springs International Film Festival	2002	FIPRESCI Prize	Aki Kaurismäki	Won
Robert Festival	2002	Best Non-American Film	Aki Kaurismäki	Nominated
San Sebastián International Film Festival	2002	FIPRESCI Film of the Year	Aki Kaurismäki	Won

References

↑ "Production support for Finnish films 1998-2004" (PDF) (in Finnish). Finnish Film Foundation. March 6, 2004. p. 2. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
↑ Fauth, Jurgen. The Man Without a Past, About.com. Accessed February 5, 2008.
↑ The Man Without a Past at Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed February 5, 2008.
↑ The Man Without a Past at Metacritic. Accessed February 5, 2008.
↑ Ebert, Roger. The Man Without a Past, RogerEbert.com, June 27, 2003. Accessed January 30, 2016.
↑ Honeycutt, Kirk. The Man Without A Past (Finland), The Hollywood Reporter, January 1, 2005. Accessed February 5, 2008. Archived from the original on December 12, 2006.
↑ Scharres, Barbara. "The Man Without a Past". Chicago Reader. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
↑ "The 75th Academy Awards (2003) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
↑ Watson, Nigel. Bangkok International Film Festival 2003, Talking Pix; retrieved 2007-12-22
↑ Hessey, Ruth. January 23, 2003. Bangkok finds its Golden Kinaree, The Age; retrieved 2007-12-22
↑ Brooks, Brian. 'Talk to Her' takes top prizes at Bangkok International Film Festival, IndieWire; retrieved 2007-12-22
↑ "Mies Vailla Menneisyytta (The Man Without A Past)". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved January 30, 2016.

External links

Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki

Feature films	Crime and Punishment Calamari Union Shadows in Paradise Hamlet Goes Business Ariel Leningrad Cowboys Go America The Match Factory Girl I Hired a Contract Killer La Vie de Bohème Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses Drifting Clouds Juha The Man Without a Past Lights in the Dusk Le Havre

Documentaries	The Saimaa Gesture Total Balalaika Show

Short films	Rocky VI Dogs Have No Hell The Foundry

Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix

1967–1989	Accident (1967) I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967) Ådalen 31 (1969) Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) Johnny Got His Gun (1971) Taking Off (1971) Solaris (1972) The Mother and the Whore (1973) Fantastic Planet (1973) Arabian Nights (1974) The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1975) Cría Cuervos (1976) The Marquise of O (1976) Bye Bye Monkey (1978) The Shout (1978) Siberiade (1979) Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980) Light Years Away (1981) The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982) Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) Diary for My Children (1984) Birdy (1985) The Sacrifice (1986) Repentance (1987) A World Apart (1988) Cinema Paradiso (1989) Too Beautiful for You (1989)

1990–2009	Tilaï (1990) The Sting of Death (1990) La Belle Noiseuse (1991) The Stolen Children (1992) Faraway, So Close! (1993) To Live (1994) Burnt by the Sun (1994) Ulysses' Gaze (1995) Breaking the Waves (1996) The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Life Is Beautiful (1998) Humanité (1999) Devils on the Doorstep (2000) The Piano Teacher (2001) The Man Without a Past (2002) Uzak (2003) Oldboy (2004) Broken Flowers (2005) Flanders (2006) The Mourning Forest (2007) Gomorrah (2008) A Prophet (2009)

2010–present	Of Gods and Men (2010) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) The Kid with a Bike (2011) Reality (2012) Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) The Wonders (2014) Son of Saul (2015)

The Nordic Council Film Prize

The Man Without a Past (2002) Manslaughter (2005) Zozo (2006) The Art of Crying (2007) You, the Living (2008) Antichrist (2009) Submarino (2010) Beyond (2011) Play (2012) The Hunt (2013) Of Horses and Men (2014) Virgin Mountain (2015)

Guldbagge Award for Best Foreign Film

1987–1990	1987: Bagdad Café – Percy Adlon 1988: No award 1989: A World Apart – Chris Menges 1990: Time of the Gypsies – Emir Kusturica

1991–2000	1991: Monsieur Hire – Patrice Leconte 1992: Husbands and Wives – Woody Allen 1993: The Piano – Jane Campion 1994: Short Cuts – Robert Altman 1995: Before the Rain – Milcho Manchevski 1996: Breaking the Waves – Lars von Trier 1997: The Ice Storm – Ang Lee 1998: The Celebration – Thomas Vinterberg 1999: All About My Mother – Pedro Almodóvar 2000: Magnolia – Paul Thomas Anderson

2001–2010	2001: Amélie – Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2002: The Man Without a Past – Aki Kaurismäki 2003: The Hours – Stephen Daldry 2004: The Return – Andrey Zvyagintsev 2005: L'Enfant – Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne 2006: The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 2007: This Is England – Shane Meadows 2008: Lust, Caution – Ang Lee 2009: The White Ribbon – Michael Haneke 2010: Lourdes – Jessica Hausner

2011–present	2011: A Separation – Asghar Farhadi 2012: Amour – Michael Haneke 2013: Blue Is the Warmest Colour – Abdellatif Kechiche 2014: Two Days, One Night – Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne 2015: Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev

Authority control	GND: 4781819-0

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 31, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.