Le Havre DVD Review

★★★★1/2

Le Havre is the latest film by prolific Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki and was a big success at Cannes (winning 2 awards). It is also one of only 3 films of 2011 to be inducted into the Criterion collection so far.

Le Havre tells the story of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), an old shoe shiner in the title’s town who finds a young black boy Idrissa who is an illegal immigrate. He is hiding form the cops and takes him in. His wife is terminally ill but she won’t admit it to Marcel. They cops are after the boy to deport him and the rest of the film consists of Marcel trying to sort out a boat to get him to London.

The film is a really lovely low-key film. The film is called a “comedy-drama” but it’s not particularly laugh out funny but just gives you a smile throughout the film. The performances are all really wonderful all done very deadpan as expected in Kaurismäki’s films. The film’s look is very influenced of many French filmmakers such as Robert Bresson, Marcel Carné, Jean Pierre-Melville which is expected because of it’s setting and also in Bresson’s minimalism which is evident in many of Kaurismäki’s films.

The film overall is a wonderfully offbeat as expected with Kaurismäki and it interesting themed dramedy. It’s also to see a film that is deliciously old fashioned it’s a film that could have easily been made over 50 years ago and wouldn’t be much different. It’s highly recommended 90 minutes.

Ian Schultz

Rating: PG
DVD/BD Release Date: 06 August 2012
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Cast: André Wilms, Blondin Miguel , Jean-Pierre Darroussin

Aki Kaurismäki's LE HAVRE DVD/BluRay Details

LE HAVRE sees Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past) tackle the subject of Northern Europe’s attitude to refugees from the developing world. His approach is dramatic, funny, heart-warming and, like his other work, beautifully offbeat. Featuring superb performances from its cast that includes André Wilms (La Vie de Bohème), Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Red Lights) and the young Blondin Miguel, LE HAVRE is a must-own title of the summer and is released 6 August on DVD &Blu-ray.

Marcel Marx (Wilms), a former author and a well-known Bohemian, has retreated into a voluntary exile in the port city of Le Havre, where he feels he has reached a closer rapport with the people serving them in the occupation of the honourable, but not too profitable, of a shoe-shiner. He has buried his dreams of a literary breakthrough and lives happily within the triangle of his favourite bar, his work, and his wife Arletty (Outinen), when fate suddenly throws in his path an underage immigrant refugee from the darkest Africa. As Arletty at the same time gets seriously ill and is bedridden, Marcel once more has to rise against the cold wall of human indifference with his only weapon of innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of the people of his quartier, but against him stands the whole blind machinery of the Western constitutionally governed state, this time represented by the dragnet of the police, moment by moment drawing closer around the refugee boy.

It’s time for Marcel to polish his shoes and reveal his teeth.

Le Havre will be yours to own on DVD&Blu-Ray when it's released in UK&Ireland 6 August. Stay tuned for a fresh DVD review and a chance to win a copy of the film on DVD a joint competition with The Peoples Movies. Le Havre stars André Wilms, Blondin Miguel, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Kate Outinen

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Le Havre Official UK Trailer - In Cinemas April 6 Published via LongTail.tv

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