Le Havre

Marcel Marx, who shines shoes at the port of Le Havre, lives simply with his wife Arletty and his dog Laika. One day he meets Idrissa, an African boy who has come out of a container. The people of the neighbourhood act together to hide him from the authorities. Aki Kaurismäki wrote, produced and directed. He conceived it as the first part of a trilogy about life in port cities. André Wilms plays Marcel Marx, the same character he played in Kaurismäki's La Vie de Bohème in 1992. Kati Outinen plays Arletty and Jean-Pierre Darroussin plays inspector Monet, a character drawn from Dostoevsky's detective. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 99 percent. One reviewer wrote that its deadpan wit hits a graceful note and that it is sweet, sad and uplifting in equal measure. It won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes in 2011 and the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. Finland submitted it for the Academy Awards and it did not reach the shortlist. On a 3.8 million euro budget it grossed 12.9 million dollars worldwide. Who it is for: viewers who like Kaurismäki's deadpan and films built on solidarity. Who it is not for: anyone wanting realism. The film tells a story about migration as a fable on purpose and allows itself a good ending.