Overview
A tale of resilience and dreams amidst despair and crime in Finland.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- deadpan
- melancholic
- bleak
- quiet evening
- arthouse film night
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Kaurismäki presents Taisto's imprisonment, romance, and escape with minimalist staging, laconic dialogue, and dry understatement.
Taisto is a coal miner displaced by economic hardship, framed for a crime, and forced to navigate prison and poverty.
Taisto dreams of leaving Finland and starting over abroad, making departure a concrete answer to imprisonment and economic abandonment.
Taisto and Irmeli's relationship develops while both face precarious work, incarceration, and limited prospects.
Films like Ariel, and why
The Match Factory Girl
shared deadpan humor, working-class protagonists, romantic resilience, and austere art-house filmmaking
Drifting Clouds
shared finnish setting, minimalist visual language, social marginalization, and darkly comic tenderness
Down by Law
shared prison escape premise, outsider protagonists, dry comedy, and humane romantic drama
The Bicycle Thieves
shared working-class struggle, migration hopes, and bittersweet romantic humanism
Movie Details
- Director
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Release Date
- 1988-10-21
- Runtime
- 73 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (385)
Cast
- Turo Pajala
- Susanna Haavisto
- Matti Pellonpää
- Eetu Hilkamo
- Erkki Pajala
- Matti Jaaranen
- Hannu Viholainen
- Jorma Markkula
- Tarja Keinänen
- Eino Kuusela
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Ariel about?
- A wrongfully imprisoned Finnish miner clings to love and the dream of migration as a way out of economic despair.
- What is Ariel like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Ariel as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Ariel violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Ariel as mild.
- Which films are like Ariel?
- Films with a similar feel include The Match Factory Girl, Drifting Clouds, Down by Law, and The Bicycle Thieves.
- How long is Ariel?
- Ariel runs 73 minutes.
- Where can I watch Ariel?
- In United States, Ariel streams on Criterion Channel.
