Aki Kaurismäki directs Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen and Kati Outinen in this comedy drama about a Syrian refugee seeking asylum in Finland. 

A well made and well intentioned bone dry comedy using the absurdities of the asylum seeker’s experience to expose the shifts in Finland’s national identity. The spinal joke is “Why would anyone choose to live in Finland?” The answer: Civil war and happenstance. It is a narrative littered with beautiful losers and moments of static energy. But it all is a bit grim and lacks any real laughs or insights to make it worthy of the subject matter it exploits. There are some nice interludes with rockabilly buskers and a cute dog to keep you going.

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