The Liar

Ville Alfa is a talkative, hyperactive young drifter working his way around Helsinki asking friends and strangers for money. The method never changes: quick, odd, half-intellectual lines and invented excuses. The fifty-three minute film was Mika Kaurismaki’s diploma project and his first work as a director, and his brother Aki Kaurismaki both worked on it and appeared in front of a camera for the first time. The name Ville Alfa later became the brothers’ production company, Villealfa, taken in turn from Godard’s Alphaville. It opened on 28 February 1981, with Matti Pellonpaa also in the cast. It is also remembered as the first film the two Kaurismaki brothers made together.