Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki is at his most laconic with the concluding episode of his "Loser" trilogy, following Drifting Clouds (1996) and The Man without a Past (2002). Yet there's a grim fascination in security guard Janne Hyytiainen's inevitable seduction by femme fatale Maria Jarvenhelmi. No one does deadpan melancholia quite like Kaurismäki, but there's also plenty of wry humour in his attitude to both Jarvenhelmi's cool-blonde villainy, which deliciously spoofs Tippi Hedren's performance in Marnie, and Hyytiainen's wilful fatalism as she involves him in a crime. Despite the downbeat tone, there are hints at his possible redemption, thanks to the attentions of hot-dog seller Maria Heiskanen. The film is made all the more compelling by Kaurismäki's calculated references to Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Hollywood noir, as well as cinematographer Timo Salminen's allusions to the paintings of Edward Hopper.

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.