I Hired a Contract Killer (1990)
Country: GER/SV/FIN/GB/FR
Technical: col 79m
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Margi Clarke, Kenneth Colley
Synopsis:
A Frenchman works at the Waterworks in London, pushing paper. Undervalued and unfrequented by his colleagues, he is nevertheless driven to suicide by the summary redundancy one day meted out to him. However, unable to put resolution into action, he hires a contract killer via the criminal underworld to do the job, which is where his life suddenly gets interesting.
Review:
Classic Léaud is wooden already, but he and Clarke are directed to lay out every line of dialogue like meat on a butcher's counter, with the result that the normally blank Ken Colley acts them both off the screen. As often with Kaurismäki, it is the workings of fate that offer hope to his characters, and life certainly improves once our hero learns to drink and smoke. Realism and credibility can go hang, and individual scenes have all the consequence of a Dave Allen sketch, but it is fun to see his take on London's tower blocks and seedy hotels.
Country: GER/SV/FIN/GB/FR
Technical: col 79m
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Margi Clarke, Kenneth Colley
Synopsis:
A Frenchman works at the Waterworks in London, pushing paper. Undervalued and unfrequented by his colleagues, he is nevertheless driven to suicide by the summary redundancy one day meted out to him. However, unable to put resolution into action, he hires a contract killer via the criminal underworld to do the job, which is where his life suddenly gets interesting.
Review:
Classic Léaud is wooden already, but he and Clarke are directed to lay out every line of dialogue like meat on a butcher's counter, with the result that the normally blank Ken Colley acts them both off the screen. As often with Kaurismäki, it is the workings of fate that offer hope to his characters, and life certainly improves once our hero learns to drink and smoke. Realism and credibility can go hang, and individual scenes have all the consequence of a Dave Allen sketch, but it is fun to see his take on London's tower blocks and seedy hotels.
Country: GER/SV/FIN/GB/FR
Technical: col 79m
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Margi Clarke, Kenneth Colley
Synopsis:
A Frenchman works at the Waterworks in London, pushing paper. Undervalued and unfrequented by his colleagues, he is nevertheless driven to suicide by the summary redundancy one day meted out to him. However, unable to put resolution into action, he hires a contract killer via the criminal underworld to do the job, which is where his life suddenly gets interesting.
Review:
Classic Léaud is wooden already, but he and Clarke are directed to lay out every line of dialogue like meat on a butcher's counter, with the result that the normally blank Ken Colley acts them both off the screen. As often with Kaurismäki, it is the workings of fate that offer hope to his characters, and life certainly improves once our hero learns to drink and smoke. Realism and credibility can go hang, and individual scenes have all the consequence of a Dave Allen sketch, but it is fun to see his take on London's tower blocks and seedy hotels.