Crime and Punishment(AK)

Challenging Hitchcock and himself in adapting Dostoevsky’s epic novel, Aki’s bold and disarmingly assured first solo transposes the solemn literary text to early ‘80s Helsinki, where an endless nocturnal spell casts on his lonely character. Taking a coldblooded revenge on his wife’s murderer, a slaughterhouse worker wavers between freedom and redemption, as he plays a cat-and-mouse chase with the police. Channelling Bresson’s minimalist approach, Aki shows the first glimpse of his recognisable sombre, detached style, translating the questions about guilt and responsibility into the highlights of social awareness, mental anguish and moral dilemmas.