The Other Side of Hope

Aki Kaurismäki has been a consistently reliable director since the late 80s, and The Other Side of Hope can rank alongside his best work.

He tells the parallel stories of Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), a Finnish shirt salesman who leaves his wife and starts a new life as a restaurant owner, and Khaled (Sherwan Haji) a refugee from Syria. Their paths cross when Khaled goes on the run to avoid being deported and Wikström gives him a job in his struggling establishment.

This is recognisably a Kaurismäki movie, shot on film rather than digitally and with its static camera work and deadpan performances. This is the second time Kaurismäki has addressed the subject of the refugee crisis, and whilst there have been a few films exploring the issue in the last few years, I can’t think of any that have dealt with it in such a humane way. Despite Wikström’s gruff exterior and the horrors that Khaled has faced, they both come across as warm human beings, trying to do their best in difficult times.

The dry humour is spot-on and especially evident when Wikström tries to change his place to a sushi restaurant, and both leads are terrific. The only false note are the group of thugs who set on Khaled a couple of times, as they feel too caricatured.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Spaceship

A teenage girl, Lucidia, haunted by her Mother’s death, disappears and her father searches for her amongst her bizarre set of college friends.

Apart from some decent songs on the soundtrack, this film has one thing going for it and that is the excellent Alexa Davies as Lucidia. Davies has been consistently great in TV shows, notably Raised by Wolves, and in small parts in films, so it is a shame that her first big screen starring role is in this pretentious rubbish.

She makes it bearable for the first half hour or so, but after she has gone, we are left with a set of poor actors spouting writer Alex Taylor’s ridiculous dialogue. Of all the amateurish performances, special mention has to be given to Tallulah Rose Haddon, who is toe curlingly bad as Alice.

Taylor’s direction, trying way too hard to be quirky is as bad as his writing. This is unwatchable dross.

Rating: 2 out of 10