From Shadows in Paradise to Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki’s films show ordinary Finns in minimalist, near-timeless settings. But they’re also a response to changes in working-class life since the 1980s, as consumerist values edge out Finland’s social model.
Loiri was one of Finland's most beloved cultural figures over six decades, playing comic and tragic roles on screen and stage, alongside a musical career.
With the horrors of the second wave, this Covid lockdown journal acquires a fresh poignancy
Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee’s ‘A Town Slowly Empties’ is a meditation on urban life during the pandemic. Manjunath Kiran / AFP
There is perhaps nothing more personal than the act of writing a journal. It is, after all, one of the few forms of without that don’t carry consequences, where one is not only vivacious and intensely humane but also honest about oneself and the world. But journals can also be something more: texts that offer relief not only to the one writing them but also to those reading the entries.