aki kaurismaki // the match factory girl movie review (1990) / buy dvd

Match Factory Girl starring: Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Silu Seppala, Reijo Taipale, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko
written by: Aki Kaurismäki
directed by: Aki Kaurismäki
produced by: Aki Kaurismäki
duration: 70 minutes
certification: 15
country: Finland/Sweden
year: 1990

That's Iris (Outinen), a girl working in mind-numbing conditions for little pay and returning home after the slog to cook for her ungrateful mother and stepfather.

Naively, she buys a gaudy dress, goes out, gets pregnant, and is then dumped and rejected by her family. That's it, except for her revenge. Kaurismaki creates a sense of loneliness and despair without sentimentality by a combination of documentary precision and a concern with Iris's inner live. There's virtually no dialogue, some quirky humour and a profound awareness of the human tragedy unfolding. Kaurismaki's rigorous control of the medium yields infinite treasure to the attentive viewer.

Kaurismaki claimed that this picture was intended to make Robert Bresson seem like the director of epic action movies. And I think he achieves that here as his minimalistic style is even more mininmalistic than Bresson's and that's saying something!

UK Dvd

T h e M a t c h F a c t o r y G i r l
G a l l e r y

Movie Review | Buy DVD | Kaurismaki Film Galleries

UK DVD | Finnish Dvds

T u l i t i k k u t e h t a a n t y t t ö
D v d

Iiris on tyttö, joka työskentelee tulitikkutehtaassa. Häntä riistävät kaikki. Työnantajan osuuteen elokuva ei edes vaivaudu vihjaamaan. Tytön alistajina ovat hänen äitinsä ja kylmä isäpuoli, jotka verottavat hänen tilipussiaan ja sitten mies, jota roskaromaaneilla itseään ruokkinut Iiris erehtyy luulemaan kiihkeästi odottamakseen satuprinssiksi. Julman maailman heittelemä Iiris ei ole kuitenkaan mikä tahansa tyttö, niin kuin se kukkakaan ei ole mikä tahansa kaktus, jonka alla hän lueskelee koston riehuessa hirviömäisenä elokuvan loppupuolella. Se on Yön kuningatar (Cactaceae Selenicereus Grandifiorus) -se kukkii vain yhtenä yönä vuodessa ja lakastuu sitten pois.

Alkuperäinen nimi: Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö

Vuosi: 1990

Ohjaaja: Aki Kaurismäki

Pääosissa: Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko

Pituus (min): 66

DVD Kuvaformaatti: 16:9 Anamorfinen Widescreen 1:1,78

Ääniformaatti: Mono 1.0 suomi

DVD Tekstitykset: norja, tanska, ruotsi, englanti Kuulovammaisille: suomi

DVD Lisämateriaali: Interaktiiviset valikot

Ikäraja: 3

Gallery

Dvd available: this site (shipped from uk)

Aki Kaurismaki
The Match Factory Girl, 2006

DVD Now Available at $44.99 / £22.99 incl. postage

Region: 2 (Europe incl. UK)
Language: Finnish
Subtitles: ENGLISH, SWE, NO, DAN, FIN

EAN: 5706550024064

FISID: 299590

Running Time: 66 min

Finnish movie by cult director Aki Kaurismaki.

To many of his fans this has long been regarded as Kaurismäki's best works. The film is so minimalistic that the first line comes some 12 minutes into the film but a sparse and profoundly compelling plot unfolds at an impeccable pace. On screen for nearly every minute of the film, Kati Outinen holds the piece together as Iiris, the Match Factory Girl of the title, whose downtrodden, poverty-ridden existence takes a turn for the worse when a man she meets, and sleeps with, makes it very clear to her that she was a one night stand - and she then discovers that she's pregnant. Her response to her situation is as unexpected as it is thrilling. Outinen is simply mesmerising.

Subtitles in English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish.

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Dispatched: 1-2 Weeks

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