The films of Aki Kaurismäki are multifaceted texts that balance between a
variety of cultural tropes. The films are simultaneously national and
international; they deal with Finnish national myths alongside the
globalisation of national culture; the films blur the distinctions between
high culture and low culture both in terms of thematics and aesthetics;
they circulate the globe in both commercial and festival releases, gaining
widely discrepant critical and commercial receptions.