A ★★★★ review of Drifting Clouds

Kati Outinen is the whole deal here, wearing a mask of impassivity the whole movie but always with so much bubbling under the surface. This is still middle period Kaurismäki, with the same icy gaze that also haunts Lights in the Dusk. But it’s a much gentler version of that; a downright optimistic movie under all the melancholy. I can see why some real Kaurismaniacs might love this movie, but for me it just doesn’t have the same life that’s in Shadows in Paradise, or the sharpness of Match Factory Girl.