The Other Side of Hope · reception & legacy
2017 · Aki Kaurismäki
How The Other Side of Hope has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Landed warmly in 2017 — Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale, hailed as the rare refugee-crisis film with actual charm — and its stock has only risen since Fallen Leaves (2023) sent a new generation back through the Kaurismäki catalogue.
What's debated
The perennial Kaurismäki debate: is deadpan whimsy a humane way into the refugee crisis, or does the comedy let the politics off too easily?
Its footprint
The chain-smoking stone faces, the interruptions of live rockabilly, and one gloriously misguided restaurant pivot have made it prime Kaurismäki-screencap material — shorthand for finding comedy in bone-dry kindness.
Where it stands
A beloved late-period entry and a favoured gateway drug into Kaurismäki on Letterboxd — usually mentioned in the same breath as its companion piece Le Havre.