88
For Carl Dreyer, to film a miracle took a single shot; for Bruno Dumont, a whole film. In Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki needs four shots to capture his - and what an ordinary event it is!
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
A stylized and sentimental fairy tale about the way the world might be, grounded in a frank recognition of the way it is.
60
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
No one looks at the world quite like Kaurismäki, and his deadpan sentimentality is worth discovery. This is a good place to start.
91
With its bouncy soundtrack, deadpan humor and good-natured disposition, Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre is an endearing affair.
80
Le Havre is utopian precisely because it shows everything as it is not.
80
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Le Havre stands on its own fragile but considerable merits.
60
This is textbook Kaurismäki, neither fresh nor unwelcome.
80
Mixing together some of helmer Aki Kaurismaki's favorite Gallic and Finnish thesps with a few newbies, Le Havre feels like a welcoming family reunion.
67
Kaurismäki has a narrow vision, disarming and sweet, yet utterly predictable, and there's little distinction between the films he's directing today and the films he directed 30 years ago. They have the wrong kind of timelessness.
75
Le Havre is warm-hearted and uplifting, without being schmaltzy or preachy. And, with its illegal-alien theme, it's dead-on timely.
Kaurismaki's cinema seems to be a celebration to the right to happiness, good friend, good drink, and rock and roll. The characters in this film don't have a lot, but they enjoy what they do have. The three olives, the single egg omelette, the record player, these are all moments of small and simple pleasures. I love the minimalist style of this film. Kaurismaki doesn't tell you what is going through every character's head, but instead suggests a feeling. It reminds me of the spare, simple prose of authors like Ernest Hemingway.