Movies Reviews

Le Havre – Movie Review

By Ron Wilkinson Oct 24, 2011, 13:53 GMT

When an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner takes pity on the child and welcomes him into his home. ...more

An easygoing story of human relationships with a sharp political comment about European immigration.

Finnish film writer/director, producer icon Aki Kaurismäki’s latest production mixes in nine parts warmth with one part skullduggery and the result is a feast. This film adds another Cannes FIPRESCI award to the filmmaker’s trophy library, including others from Berlin and many of the world’s other prestigious film festivals.

It was nominated for the Palm Dor at Cannes and is being screened at the New York Film Festival several weeks before its US release in late October.

The mark of a director’s greatness often is the ability to spot new talent or to make amateur actors or non-actors act like pros. Dealing with André Wilms in the lead role was no problem; he is a veteran actor with the European Film Award for Best Actor under his belt. The fact that he won it in a Kaurismäki directed film “The Bohemian Life” would have the reunion a match made in Hollywood (or Cannes).

In addition to the prospect of a reunion, Wilms plays a great Bohemian. He seems to have interpreted the Bohemian attitude and swagger with commendable skill. He fits at the coarse wooded table of his home in a lower rent Le Havre neighborhood with the same confidence that he uses to mend broken hearts and pull off a once in a lifetime chance to do the right thing.

However, that is getting ahead of the story. Wilms has succeeded as the Bohemian before and he succeeds mightily in this film. Although the supporting acting is thoroughly professional, the other lead who almost steals the show is Jean-Pierre Darroussin playing the redoubtable inspector Monet.

Inspector Monet is the modern day clone of Claude Rains’ Captain Louis Renault in “Casablanca” combined with Bogey character from the same film. His cape like attire slides onto the seamy waterfronts of Le Havre like Renault walking out the fog and gathering us the usual suspects.

The amazing thing is that filmmaker Kaurismäki is able to take those misty-shrouded waterfronts and splintered wood bread shops and turn them into something far more beautiful than there station would claim.

In the pure entertainment department, when Marcel pulls together the miraculous benefit concert featuring Little Bob (the stage name of Roberto Piazza) it is every man for himself. As described on his web page, Littler Bob is a native of Le Havre.

This does not appear to be a particularly glitzy attribute, as the website goes on to describe the city as “A tough mother of a rain-battered grey hole….the closest France ever gets to the look and feel of Liverpool or New Jersey: oil terminals, super tankers, refineries, chemical plants, warehouses, longshoremen.

Hey, wait a minute, I live in New Jersey. Of course, I just biked past those oil terminals and tankers this morning, but it’s not all that bad.

In any event, when Little Bob takes the stage and does his rockabilly show there is not a show in the house without a tapping toe. He is a better Elvis than Wilms is a bohemian and that is saying something.

Cannes Best Actress Award winner Kati Outinen reunites with her old collaborator Kaurismäki after her 2003 Cannes Best Actress award in his zillion-award winning “The Man Without a Past.” Like that film, Le Havre has also been forwarded as Finland’s “Best Foreign Language Film” nomination in 2011.

Last but not least, kudos to newcomer and co-star of thi9s show, Blondin Miguel as Idressa, the teenage Gabonese refugee. This is his first film and, although he does have a lot of lines in the film, he is able to come through with the chops when he must. After all, the film is about him.

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Directed and Written by: Aki Kaurismäki
Starring: André Wilms, Kati Outinen and Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Release Date: October 21, 2011
MPAA: Unrated
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Country: Finland / France / Germany
Language: French with English Subtitles
Color: Color