In his wry and warm-hearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, legendary Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past, The Match Factory Girl) pays tribute to the Gallic cinema he loves with a film that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville and Michel Carné. Winner of the FIPRESCI Critics’ prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Kaurismäki’s 16th feature concerns a young African refugee (newcomer Blondin Miguel) who is thrown by fate into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a well-read bohemian who works as a shoe-shiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation.
French w/ English subtitles. 1 hr 33 mins, rated NR
Watch Trailer: http://janusfilms.com/lehavre/
