Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki concludes the "Loser" trilogy he started with Drifting Clouds and The Man Without a Past - and now the pessimism is absolute.
The central character is Janne Hyytiainen's Koistinen, a lonely nightwatchman in a shopping mall who is despised by everyone except Aila (Maria Heiskanen), a hot-dog seller at a mobile stand.
Unwisely, however, he ignores her in favour of a glamorous blonde (Maria Heisskanen) who is the girl of a crook planning to rob the jewellery shop at the mall. They contrive to have him arrested and jailed for the break-in.
There's not a moment during which you couldn't identify the deadpan, forlorn world as that of Kaurismaki. Well as his cast play, there's a self-consciousness that makes it less freshly imagined than the marvellous The Man Without a Past. It's as if Kaurismaki is treading water rather than swimming.
Lights In The Dusk (Laitakaupungin Valot)
Cert: PG
