The Other Side of Hope

(Finland-Germany, comedy-drama, 100 minutes, unrated) Syrian refugee Khaled (Sherwan Haji) smuggles himself unintentionally into gloomy Helsinki, where he applies for asylum. Meanwhile, middle-aged salesman Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen) leaves his wife and old job behind and opens a sad little restaurant staffed by glum misfits who don’t know how to cook. How the refugee and the restaurateur’s path’s cross is the main plot of this funny/sad tale. “Director Aki Kaurismaki does not traffic in the harsh, immersive naturalism that has recently flourished on the international festival circuit, and his movies feel more like fables than like bulletins. Which is not to suggest that there is anything naïve or fantastical about this tale of struggle and resilience. On the contrary, it’s at once honest and artful, a touching and clearsighted declaration of faith in people and in movies.” – New York Times