The Man Without a Past (2003)

Wherefore all the acclaim, people? This film plays like a failed experiment, one where the object is to see how deadpan one can make a comedy without losing the humor. I mean, this stuff makes Jarmusch look positively lively. (The one scene in Stranger than Paradise where Willy tries to explain football to Eva is funnier than this film in its entirety.) There's a couple chuckles along the way but they're drowned by the endless procession of setpieces that clang to the ground without so much as a smirk. It's okay to be wry, but you have to at least be telling jokes before you can have a sense of humor. If, as Mike D'Angelo claims, all Kaurismaki films are essentially the same, don't be surprised if you never see his name here again.

Grade: C