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Lights in the Dusk

Play trailer Poster for Lights in the Dusk 2006 1h 18m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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68% Tomatometer 41 Reviews 72% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Koistinen is a security guard at a shopping center whose dreams of a better life are continually crushed. Things seem to be looking up when Mirja shows an amorous interest in him but what he doesn't realize is that he's being set up as the fall guy by a gang of jewel thieves. Observing his plight is Aila, who runs a fast food stall and carries a torch for him but is overlooked in favor of Mirja.
Lights in the Dusk

What to Know

Critics Consensus

From its brilliant cinematography to its compassionate characters, Lights in the Dusk is another successful exercise in deadpan minimalist comedy from Aki Kaurismäki.

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Critics Reviews

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David Fear Time Out Rated: 2/5 Nov 18, 2011 Full Review Hank Sartin Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review J. R. Jones Chicago Reader Kaurismaki creates some beautiful frames, carefully composing his affectless characters against the rooms' colors, but there's something wrong with your story when people are upstaged by the decor. Oct 16, 2007 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Though it's the weakest of the three panels that form Kaurismaki's trilogy, which began with Drifting Clouds in 1996, it's still worth seeing. Rated: C+ Jun 3, 2011 Full Review Enrique Buchichio Uruguay Total Un relato crudo, probablemente desconcertante y extrañamente tragicómico, sólo para seguidores incondicionales del director, que repite su estilo sin sorpresas. Rated: 3/5 Jan 22, 2008 Full Review Jennie Kermode Eye for Film Rated: 4/5 Dec 7, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Abhijit S A must see for Kaurismaki fans. It brilliantly depicts how the more adroit members of society casually exploit the weak without consequence. What constitutes such a weak isolated character is the subject of the film. His infantile dreams, his botched attempt to make something of himself and when this woman enters it seems to him that he’s finally on his way to fulfilling his dreams. And despite knowing he’s been betrayed he refuses to turn in his betrayers. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/16/24 Full Review Audience Member I feel sorry for the poor protagonist. Unfortunately, shit does happen like this. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Slow-moving and uninteresting; not one of Kaurismaki's best. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Aki is one of my Scandinavian favorites. His films are something for themselves and the ones I've seen from him so far is following pretty close plots. Here we meet a looser type of guy (as always). He's a security guard that no one seem to care much about. He smokes cigarettes, he drinks and he seem to just excist. That's until he meets a lady - a lady that got some intentions of using him. It's a dark film with some dark'ish humor sped around. It's strange, but still naturallistic and true, direct but minimal. It feels like I have seen it before but it's a great recipie. The best feature is that it's short. No unneccessary stuff and it get's straight to the point - the pace is great. Not his best film, but if you have seen other films of him you won't be disappointed. It's a huge symathy shout to the average man trying to keep his dreams up. 7.5 out of 10 grill wagons. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Probably the most realistic (yet also very stylish) film noir I've ever seen (and, like any good film noir, a criticism of capitalist society). Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member I really enjoyed 'The Man Without a Past' but this one left me cold. I guess you have to be Finnish to appreciate the humour in it. I just felt that it was a kind of reverse tourist feature, in that anyone seeing this would never visit Finland - or if they lived there, then leaving would be the only sane option. It kind of starts in a bad place and goes continuously downhill from there. I guess if you were feeling over-elated this might calm you down; otherwise, avoid. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Lights in the Dusk

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Koistinen is a security guard at a shopping center whose dreams of a better life are continually crushed. Things seem to be looking up when Mirja shows an amorous interest in him but what he doesn't realize is that he's being set up as the fall guy by a gang of jewel thieves. Observing his plight is Aila, who runs a fast food stall and carries a torch for him but is overlooked in favor of Mirja.
Director
Aki Kaurismäki
Producer
Aki Kaurismäki
Screenwriter
Aki Kaurismäki
Production Co
Sputnik Oy
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Finnish
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jun 13, 2007
Release Date (DVD)
Oct 16, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA)
$13.8K
Runtime
1h 18m