Shadows in Paradise is the first film in Kaurismäki’s ‘Proletariat Trilogy’, which follows the lives of three working-class people in his native Finland with detached yet disarming amusement. Nikkander, a lonely garbageman, finds himself directionless after losing his best friend and co-worker to a sudden heart attack. Unlikely redemption comes in the form of plain supermarket cashier Ilona, with whom he begins a tentative love affair. The film is essentially a romantic comedy, honed down to a series of spare and beautiful gestures.
The film has been selected by Passman, one half of the rap-duo Hedluv + Passman, formed in Redruth and renowned across Cornwall for their Casio keyboard beats and witty takes on contemporary Cornish life.