Crime and Punishment

»Crime and Punishment« is a modern adaptation of the classical crime story by F.M. Dostoevsky – but faithful in its spirit to the original. The principal character – a young slaughterhouse worker – commits a senseless crime. Through his act he finally drifts out of society and into loneliness. Only a young girl who accidentally arrives at the scene of the crime wants to follow him. Guilt and the tightening net of the police throw a shadow over their desperate love affair.

The nocturnal concrete jungle serves as a backdrop for the struggle for intellectual supremacy between the police and the murderer. Rahikainen’s only weapon in this struggle is his total indifference to everything.

»Crime and Punishment« is, however, first and foremost a film about the last desperate rebellion of a young man against society. The society that – as we know – is a merciless machine. Perhaps we are all guilty – guilty of what? This unbearable question faces us everywhere, hands on hips, sneering at us. As you wish. We’ll die anyway.

Aki Kaurismäki, writer, director, editor and producer. Born in Finland 4.4.1957, but...

Films as a director:

1981
»The Saimaa Gesture«
(Co-Dir. with Mika Kaurismäki)

1983
»Crime And Punishment«

1985
»Calamari Union«

1986
»Shadows In Paradise«
»Rocky VI« (Short)

1987
»Hamlet Goes Business«
»Thru The Wire« (Short)
»L.A.Woman« (Short)
»Rich Little Bitch« (Short)

1988
»Ariel«

1989
»Leningrad Cowboys Go America«
»Dirty Hands« (TV Film)

1990
»The Match Factory Girl«
»I Hired A Contract Killer«

1991
»Those Were The Days« (Short)
»These Boots« (Short)

1992
»La Vie De Boheme«

1993
»Total Balalaika Show - Helsinki Concert« (Documentary)

1994
»Take Care Of Your Scarf - Tatjana«
»Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses«

1996
»Drifting Clouds«

1998
»Juha«

2002
»The Man Without A Past«, »Dogs Have No Hell« (Short)

2004
»Bico« (Short)

2006
»Lights In The Dusk«