Junk Mail

This droll Norwegian first feature shows that Aki Kaurismäki doesn't have the monopoly on deadpan Nordic humour and oddball working class characters. Lugubrious, love-struck postman Roy (Skjærstad) falls for pretty, partially deaf dry cleaning assistant Line (Sæther), whose lowlife boyfriend recently embroiled her in a mugging that left a security guard in a coma. Too shy to declare his love, Roy eavesdrops on Line's unhappy life, becoming involved in a bizarre sequence of events that unfolds like a cheap B-movie plot tinged with Nordic melancholy. The downbeat, fatalistic storyline relies a bit too heavily on ironic coincidences, but the observations are always generous and the humour never forced.