Drž si šátek, Tatjano

The heroes of the unusual comedy road movie are Kaurismäki's typical outsiders, with both traces of "sudden upheaval" and the influences of East and West. Valto, the tailor, gets upset at home because he has run out of coffee and angrily locks his mother in the closet. He takes her money from her purse and leaves home. He stops by the car mechanic Rein, who is repairing his black Volga. They get on and set off on a journey across Finland. Along the way, against their will, they take two women who are on their way to their native Soviet Union. The language barrier and innate timidity make almost no communication possible. Moments of understanding happen almost without words and are hardly noticeable. Although Kaurismäki reduces the characteristics of his heroes to a few basic features - one constantly drinks vodka, the other coffee, one wears only a suit, the other a leather jacket and bell-bottom trousers - the result is not a caricature, but a tragicomic portrait of the times. The director's excellent regular actors are also to blame for this. Car mechanic Reino became one of the last roles of Matti Pellonpää, who died prematurely.