Dive bars, cheap restaurants, battered vintage cars, cigarettes, booze, accordions, portable radios, adorable dogs, a bouquet, vinyl records, mixed music tracks (jazz, tango, rockabilly, etc.), biting irony, deadpan wit, Bressonian minimalism, Ozu-esque transcendence, heightened aesthetic realism, vivid ‘emotions-defining’ color palettes, ultra-cool existentialism, determinist view of industrialized society, singularly understated acting style, and detached yet humane, restless yet large-hearted humans – these are all the staple elements of Aki Kaurismaki cinematic universe, a prolific Finnish film-maker who weaves visual poems from…