I Hired a Contract Killer
J'ai engagé un tueur (French title)
Ich engagierte einen Berufskiller (German title)

Available on DVD

Finland-Germany-Great Britain-Sweden 1990 colour 80 min Villealfa Filmproductions Oy, Svenska Filminstitutet

***½

Drama, comedy, crime

cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud (Henri Boulanger), Margi Clarke (Margaret), Imogen Claire, Kenneth Coley (Harry), Nicky Tesco (Pete), Charles Cork (Al), Serge Reggiani (Vic), Angela Walsh, Peter Graves, Joe Strummer
credits: dir. & script & producer & edit. Aki Kaurismäki, DOP Timo Salminen

Henri loses his job. Everything goes. He thinks that it's better to be dead than alive and so he tries to kill himself. No good. He can not even kill himself, so bad is the world. Then Henry hires a contract killer - one sad fellow too. After that Henri's life changes: love comes. And he can't stop the killer...!

Silent humour, gloomy characters and landscapes - everything that a Kaurismäki movie needs. Actors are good, although Margi Clarke is a bit too lively to be a real Kaurismäki lady.

TRIVIA: The director himself does a cameo role in the movie as a guy who sells shades.

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