Le Havre

Synopsis

An audience favorite at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Le Havre finds legendary Finnish director Aki Kaurismaeki working in France for the first time in nearly twenty years. In this warmhearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, fate throws young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms), a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoeshiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering support of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation. A political fairy tale that mixes the classic cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville and Marcel Carne with wry Kaurismaekian comedy, Le Havre is a charming, deadpan delight.