“You’ve been used.”

I rented Lights in the Dusk because one review claimed that the film had a noir tone. Well that was flimsy at best. Here’s the plot outline:

Lonely night security guard Koistenen (Janne Hyytiainen) has dreams of opening up his own security firm when meets a strange, attractive young woman (Maria Jarvenhelmi) who suddenly strikes up a relationship. Rather than stop and ask what her motive is, Koistenen goes along with this new relationship, and even brags about it to Aila (Maria Heiskanen) the lonely owner of a portable food diner. It soon becomes obvious to the viewer that Koistenen’s new girlfriend has ulterior motives, but he’s blissfully unaware, and that makes him the ultimate victim. Soon he’s the suspect in a robbery, and his career and his reputation are trashed.

Koistenen takes all the bad things that are dumped on him, but when he decides to strike back, he doesn’t know when to stop….

The film ended rather abruptly–too abruptly for my tastes, and I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw the credits roll. Unsatisfying and emotionally distant, the film never really explores much beyond recording the actions of its characters. We never get inside their heads to learn what they’re thinking (if anything). The best scene occurred in the bank when Koistenen applies for a loan, and after being told, “guarantees from trash like you are worthless” he’s promptly shown the back exit. From Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, Lights in the Dusk is the third film in this director’s “Loser Trilogy” (the others are Drifting Clouds and Man Without a Past).