Hamlet Goes Business

Kaurismäki's idiosycratic reworking of Shakespeare is concerned with money rather than melancholia. Transposed to modern Finland, it begins with the poisoning of the head of a family firm, leaving shiftless son Hamlet with a controlling 51 per cent interest. Learning that unprofitable mills and factories are to be sold off to buy a world monopoly in rubber-duck manufacture, Hamlet vetoes the move and starts a boardroom battle. Kaurismäki keeps this wacky idea afloat with farcial plotting, deadpan humour and cryptic dialogue. The overall tone is pure B-movie, the exaggerated emotions and Timo Salminen's glistening noir photography recalling Warners' crime melodramas of the '40s. The characters are ciphers, too: reduced to pawns in the board games, they have no life outside their assigned roles. Viewed in isolation, this might have seemed merely promising; seen in combination with Ariel and Leningrad Cowboys Go America, it confirms Kaurismäki's unique and unpredictable talent.