Films from Finland: Ariel

Ariel, 1988, 69 minutes, K-11

Finland’s best known director, Aki Kaurismäki, turns 59 this month, and there is no better way to celebrate that than with his fifth and arguably finest film. There have been many Finnish road movies made since Ariel, but this is the model, as an un-employed coal miner heads south to an uncertain future. Named Best Foreign Language Film in 1991 by the National Society of Film Critics.