Le Havre (2011)
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 82
Fresh: 81 | Rotten: 1
Aki Kaurismäki's deadpan wit hits a graceful note with Le Havre, a comedy/drama that's sweet, sad, and uplifting in equal measure.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 1
Aki Kaurismäki's deadpan wit hits a graceful note with Le Havre, a comedy/drama that's sweet, sad, and uplifting in equal measure.
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Movie Info
In this warmhearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, fate throws young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoeshiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering support of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation. A political fairy tale that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic cinema of
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Cast
-
André Wilms
Marcel Marx -
Kati Outinen
Arletty -
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Monet -
Blondin Miguel
Idrissa -
Elina Salo
Claire -
Evelyne Didi
Yvette -
Nguyen Quoc Dung
Chang -
Laika
Laika -
Francois Monnie
Grocer -
Roberto Piazza
Little Bob -
Pierre Étaix
Doctor Becker -
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Denouncer -
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All Critics (82) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (1) | DVD (1)
Endearingly quirky, just this side of precious, but so warm and deftly executed that you go along with it.
Top Critic"Le Havre" is a passing fancy of a film, but it passes quite nicely indeed.
'Tis the season, so the saying goes. And when it comes to Aki Kaurismäki, it holds true. The Finnish writer-director arrives bearing a gift wrapped in a contemporary immigration fable.
If the bummers and ambiguity of some of this season's movies are getting you down - or, hey, just the bummers and ambiguities of life - make your way to Le Havre. You won't be sorry.
The Finnish director's sense of humor is dry and dark as pitch, as he consistently finds moments of absurdity in the midst of strife and tragedy.
You almost become a citizen of Le Havre, watching this film and rejoicing at the end as two newfound, unexpected friends share a drink.
Kaurismäki returns with another of his deadpan comedies, reminiscent of the great silent comedians, though this one is arguably one of his gentlest as well.
Criterion gives one of last year's finest films an excellent transfer, finally bringing Aki Kaurismäki into the high-definition landscape.
Le Havre is presented as an oasis of happy inclusiveness within a regimented, uniformed, legislated and suspicious world at large; to spend time here is a pleasure.
Kaurismäki turns his affectionate, whimsical eye on the impoverished but generous folk of a run-down, waterfront community in the Normandy port of Le Havre.
The result is both charming and purposeful.
Written and directed by Finland's Aki Kaurismäki, this warmly engaging film is an understated pleasure about a surprisingly resourceful underdog.
The intricately woven tale of hide and seek is full of priceless, poker-faced comedy and heartrending tenderness.
No other director could maintain this degree of optimism while telling such a superficially grim story.
It's a satisfying and distinctively lovable film.
A charming feel-good fantasy of 'Marxist' solidarity resurgent against the chill of post-9/11 modernity.
Kaurismäki clearly knows this is a fantasy, and it's a perfectly pleasant one at that.
A gorgeous hymn to the struggles of the working man.
I was on cloud nine throughout the film: that place of Technicolored rapture where Kaurismäki fans dwell, and where past, present and oneiric future are rolled celestially into one.
Such a heart-warming tale in any other hands could so easily become schmaltzy (a Spielberg remake would be awful), but the deadpan delivery and endless idiosyncrasies counterbalance this tendency.
Kaurismäki fashions a droll, engaging fairytale, with echoes of Casablanca in its colourful, close-knit Normandaise resistance...
This is no doubt a message movie, but it delivers its message in an unforced, quirky way that leaves you feeling as though you've been pleasurably cajoled rather than harangued.
A warm-hearted salute to both classical French cinema and working-class solidarity.
Le Havre could be described as the ever-quirky Aki Kaurismaki's 'wish list' film addressing today's tide of refugees who are usually faceless crowds or worse, corpses at the unintended end of their journey
There's something extremely pure about this simple yet beautiful film in which ordinary people do extraordinary things
It is rare and welcome to watch a movie that automatically assumes people will do the right thing at the slightest provocation.
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