Hamlet Goes Business **** (1987, Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Esko Salminen, Kati Outinen, Elina Salo) – Classic Movie Review 9600

Writer/ producer/ director Aki Kaurismäki’s 1987 Finnish black comedy film Hamlet Goes Business [Hamlet Liikemaailmassa] is an entertaining, irreverent black-and-white satirical film noir reading of the Bard.

Cult director Kaurismäki’s highly personal telling of the Shakespeare play updates the story to the present day and changes the rotten state of Denmark into a small-town Finnish furniture business.

Hamlet (Pirkka-Pekka Petelius) is a sour grump who enjoys loud music and violent comics, Ophelia (Kati Outinen) dies in a bathtub and rubber ducks intrude on the familiar plot. Hamlet’s father dies and the young heir inherits a seat on the board of the business controlled by his uncle, who then decides to move into the rubber duck market.

It works neatly as both a typically quirky take on Hamlet and as a business satire.

Esko Salminen as Klaus, Elina Salo as Gertrud, Esko Nikkari as Polonius, Kari Väänänen as Lauri Polonius, Puntti Valtonen [Hannu Valtonen] as Simo, Mari Rantasila as Helena, Turo Pajala as Rosencranz and Aake Kalliala as Gildenstern.

Kaurismäki read Hamlet and wrote the script loosely the same week, a mere couple of weeks before filming.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9600

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com