Critic Reviews

With its bouncy soundtrack, deadpan humor and good-natured disposition, Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre is an endearing affair.

Le Havre stands on its own fragile but considerable merits.

A stylized and sentimental fairy tale about the way the world might be, grounded in a frank recognition of the way it is.

Le Havre is warm-hearted and uplifting, without being schmaltzy or preachy. And, with its illegal-alien theme, it's dead-on timely.

Kaurismäki has a narrow vision, disarming and sweet, yet utterly predictable, and there's little distinction between the films he's directing today and the films he directed 30 years ago. They have the wrong kind of timelessness.

This is textbook Kaurismäki, neither fresh nor unwelcome.