Retrospective
Rikos ja rangaistusCrime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment
Finland 1983, 93 Min.
In his first feature film, Aki Kaurismäki transfers the plot of Dostoevsky's novel “Crime and Punishment” to modern-day Helsinki. Former law student Rahikainen works in a slaughterhouse. One evening he follows a business man to his flat: “I have come to kill you.” – “Why?” asks the other man. – “You will never find out.” The man had killed his girlfriend in an accident years before and had been cleared of all charges. But is that the actual motive for the murder? For Rahikainen makes no effort to remove any clues, falls in love with the only witness and gets himself involved in a game of cat and mouse with the police that he ultimately does not wish to win. After a short excursion across the border with a fake passport, he gives himself up to the police... Kaurismäki's stylistic precision is already clearly visible in his idiosynchratic, laconic debut. Many of the motifs and technical means of his later works are already inherent to this minimalist translation of the Russian.
Director Aki Kaurismäki
Screenplay Aki Kaurismäki
Cast Markku Toikka (Antti Rahikainen), Aino Seppo (Eeva Laakso), Esko Nikkari (Inspektor Pennanen), Olli Tuominen (Kommissar Snellman). Hannu Lauri (Heinonen), Matti Pellonpää (Nikander), Pentti Auer (Kari Honkanen), Asmo Hurula (Bartender), Tiina Pirhonen (Mädchen), Kari Sorvali (Sormunen), Risto Aaltonen (Maler), Tarja Keinänen (Frau Pennanen), Harri Marstio (Sänger)
Website The Finnish Film Foundation
The film in the Film Days catalogue [PDF-Download]
Screenings
No screenings are available for this film.
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