Fallen Leaves
MUBI | Release Date: November 17, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Irish TimesTara BradyDec 1, 2023
The same droll humour and keen social awareness that have defined [Kaurismaki's] work since Leningrad Cowboys Go America, in 1989, are now put in service of a lovely, star-crossed romance. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarNov 22, 2023
The year’s most succinctly perfect film, Fallen Leaves aims to do for us what companionship does for its couple: make this treacherous life a bit more bearable. Read full review
100
Original-CinThom ErnstNov 20, 2023
Kaurismäki does not shrink from present-day buzz-kills like updates on Russia’s attacks against Ukraine, or the afflictions of poverty on Helsinki’s working class. But here again, is the contrast; even amid conflict, things charming and funny can occur. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 17, 2023
There’s life boiling under the simple surfaces, which is both Kaurismäki’s aesthetic mantra and his great theme. At their best, these quiet, cool films tear you to pieces. Fallen Leaves already feels like one of his signature works. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyNov 17, 2023
The key to this movie’s winning emotional delicacy is its formal sturdiness. Every shot has a specific job to do and does it well. The performances are measured and restrained. Read full review
100
The Associated PressJake CoyleNov 16, 2023
Fallen Leaves is the best big-screen romance of the year even though its prospective lovers exchange only a handful of words and, for most of the film, don’t know each other’s names. Read full review
95
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 20, 2023
Again, Fallen Leaves is a comedy, and a consistently funny one, even if most of its laugh lines are gruffly delivered. Read full review
91
ColliderChase HutchinsonNov 17, 2023
It is a triumph in every sense of the word just as it is a humble portrait of life's small moments. The way Kaurismäki strikes this balance is breathtaking in its patience, proving how the most moving works of cinema can come from the simplest of places. Read full review
90
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsNov 27, 2023
It’s a wonderful film with not an ounce of fat on the bone, and Kaurismäki still manages to thread the needle between a style of ironic detachment and emotions that are big, bold and instantly affecting. Read full review
90
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 17, 2023
Sometimes a movie reaches the unreachable in us, not because it’s a grand masterpiece but because it’s as quiet and intimate as air. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 16, 2023
Fallen Leaves is consistently funny, but its laughs arrive without fanfare. They slide in calmly, at times obliquely in eccentric details, offbeat juxtapositions, taciturn exchanges, long pauses and amiably barbed insults. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiNov 29, 2023
One of the many charms of Kaurismäki’s films is the way he fuses the impassive emotions he’s subtly evoking with his characters with his absurd, hilarious signaling of the form of filmmaking itself. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonDec 20, 2023
In a year of movies with bloated runtimes, Kaurismäki keeps his at a brisk and welcome 81 minutes, not one of which is wasted. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 8, 2023
Fallen Leaves, by contrast, strikes an adroit balance between dark and light, stoicism and optimism. There’s a stealth buoyancy at work. Read full review
85
TheWrapSteve PondMay 25, 2023
Throughout, Kaurismäki shows his usual complete control of a delicate tone that could easily go awry if it didn’t work so well. Read full review
83
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 25, 2023
As a film, Fallen Leaves could hardly be simpler––two people living separate, lonesome lives meet and maybe fall in love––but there is beauty in that simplicity and, as ever, Kaurismäki’s characters live far richer inner lives. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 25, 2023
An 81-minute film that’s as crisp and bittersweet as a late autumn breeze, Kaurismäki’s latest might amount to little more than a bauble in the end, but it offers a stirring reminder — both with its story, and through the experience of watching it — that life can only be so bleak so long as you can still go to the movies and escape it for a little while. Read full review
80
Screen RantAlex HarrisonJan 19, 2024
Perhaps, Kaurismäki's movie suggests, disaffection is a valid response to this reality we live in. So, when these two people meet and sparks fly, it becomes all the more meaningful. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyDec 1, 2023
You couldn’t accuse the film of outstaying its welcome for even one of these 81 pristine minutes. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonDec 1, 2023
Drolly scripted, impeccably designed and photographed, and played to succinct perfection, this may only be a slender drama, but it's also a cherishable summation of what makes Aki Kaurismäki special. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalZachary BarnesNov 16, 2023
Fallen Leaves, though no radical departure for its maker nor a landmark of its medium, reminds us of a singular artistic personality, still vibrant after all these years. In a world of disasters large and small, surely that counts as consolation. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 25, 2023
Running just 81 minutes, Fallen Leaves is slight compared to many of Kaurismäki’s more complex narratives, but its well of feeling creeps up on you and it delivers a good share of laugh-out-loud lines with droll aplomb. Besides, who are we to quibble about any gift from one of world cinema’s greatest treasures? Read full review
80
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyMay 25, 2023
Fallen Leaves may not set the film world on fire, but is guaranteed to cast a warm glow. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 25, 2023
Fallen Leaves is another of Kaurismäki’s beguiling and delightful cinephile comedies, featuring foot-tapping rock’n’roll. It’s romantic and sweet-natured, in a deadpan style that in no way undermines or ironises the emotions involved and with some sharp things to say about contemporary politics. Read full review
80
Time OutDave CalhounMay 25, 2023
It finds genuine humour in its characters’ almost down-and-out lot, but it’s fully on their side – the side of those trampled on by modern times. Read full review
75
ObserverLaura BabiakDec 19, 2023
Wearing its references (if not its heart) on its sleeve, Finnish Oscar entry Fallen Leaves is a slight slice-of-life romance with more than enough deadpan charm to buoy its 81-minute runtime. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 4, 2023
Fallen Leaves casts an irresistible spell, one that’s as playful as it is full of longing and pathos. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenNov 30, 2023
The movie won’t change your world—but it’s nice watching two lost people experience a hopeful change in theirs. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJacob OllerNov 15, 2023
Bone-dry yet filled with yearning, Aki Kaurismäki’s Finnish rom-com is a charming tale of persistence amid chaos. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 25, 2023
It’s a nice but exceedingly minor movie. It leaves little imprint. Read full review
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