Juha (1999 Film)

Juha is a Finnish film directed and written by Aki Kaurismaki. The film was released in Germany on February 13, 1999, and in the United States in May of 2003. Juha is based on a famous novel by Finnish author Juhani Aho. Juha is a silent black-and-white movie, a love triangle in which a peasant woman falls in love with a Russian salesman and leaves her husband.

Marja (Kati Outinen) is married to a simple man Juha (Sakari Kuosmanen) and they live a simple life and spend most of their time farming. The story takes a new turn when Shemeikka (Andre Wilms) comes in their life. He lures Marja and convinces her to leave Juha. Marja leaves her husband, dreaming for a better life in a big city. Her dream becomes nightmare when Shemeikka drags her into prostitution.

• Sakari Kuosmanen as Juha

• Kati Outinen as Marja

• Andre Wilms as Shemeikka

• Markku Peltola as Autonkuljettaja

• Elina Salo as Shemeikan sisar

• Ona Kamu as Shemeikan nainen

• Outi Maenpaa as Shemeikan nainen

• Tuire Tuomisto as Shemeikan nainen

• Tatiana Soloviova as Tanssija

• Esko Nikkari as Nimismies

• Jaakko Talaskivi as Henkivartija

• Safka Pekkonen as Tango-orkesterin jasen

• Sami Kuoppamäki as Tango-orkesterin jasen

• Juuso Norlund as Tango-orkesterin jasen

• Anssi Tikanmaki as Tango-orkesterin jasen

"Why would any director in this day and age choose to make a full-length black-and-white silent movie, and a drama at that? As the Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaursimaki explains in a program note to Juha, his surprisingly gripping adaptation of a 1911 novel by Juhani Aho, "the easyness of explaining all by words has polluted our storytelling to a pale shadow of original cinema." He goes on to disparage mumbled dialogue and what he calls "hootchy-cootchy" as contributing to the movies' loss of innocence."—Stephen Holden, The New York Timeshttp://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9406E4DE103EF931A35753C1A96F958260

"In the cinema there should be fewer words. So now I have made a totally silent film, I announced eccentric Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. He's created a delightfully simple tale with Juha simultaneous ode to and parody of cinematic history billed as the last silent movie of the 20th century."—Ky N. Nguyen, The Washington Diplomat http://www.washdiplomat.com/03-06/bB_03_06.html#1Anchor