35mm, colour, Dolby digital
Finnish theatrical premiere March 24, 2000
directed by Mika Kaurismäki
original screenplay Paul Charles Bailly
- screenplay adaptation Paul Charles Bailly, Mika Kaurismäki
- German dialogues Beate Langmaack
cinematography Timo Salminen
sound Paul Jyrälä
edited by Inge Behrens
production Mariette Rissenbeek Filmproduktion, Hamburg, in co-operation with Marianna Films Oy and Norddeutsche Rundfunk
songs performed in the film
- Za-Zu-Zi (Mako Reggae Rockers)
- Syksyn sävel (Antti Reini)
- I Will Stay (Marie Zielcke)
other music
- On Your Road (Steamhammer)
- Even The Clock (Steamhammer)
- Down The Highway (Steamhammer)
- Junior's Wailing (Steamhammer)
- Lost You Too (Steamhammer)
cast
- Kai Wiesinger (Jack Bogart)
- Marie Zielcke (Elisabeth Dirberg)
- Michaela Rosen (Verena Dirberg)
- Hannes Hellmann (Bruno)
- Jochen Nickel (Popo)
- Siegfried Terpoorten (Uli von Greeten)
- Francisca Tu (Bo Lee)
- Karl Kranzkowski (superintendent Schmilinsky)
- Isabell Fischer (policewoman)
- Kari Väänänen (man at farm)
- Antti Reini (karaoke singer)
- Juuso Hirvikangas (karaoke DJ)

Jack Bogart is a car mechanic in a scrapyard in Northern Germany. Bruno and Popo, two guys from the wrong side of the tracks, persuade him to fetch a truckload of "merchandise" from the Fenno-Russian border to settle an old debt. On their way to a luncheon in the Northern German island of Sylt, wealthy Elisabeth Dirberg and her attractive daughter Verena arrive at the scrapyard to get technical assistance for an urgent overheating problem in their sumptuous coachbuilt Rolls-Royce.

The lovely Elizabeth hitches a lift from Jack to escape a society marriage planned by her mother and joins him on his trip to Finland. After arriving in Helsinki, Jack and Elizabeth drive to the Russian border, followed by Bruno's assistant Popo. Back in Hamburg, Verena agrees to pay a ransom for her assumedly kidnapped daughter, but the payment is actually a scheme arranged by Verena's lover Uli, who is also Verena's would-be fiancé.

After sorting things out with Popo at the border, Jack and Elizabeth drive back to Helsinki in the truck loaded with the smuggled merchandise. In Helsinki, Elizabeth collapses and is hospitalized. The worried Jack is told that she suffers from excessive stress and lack of medication for her leuchemia but that she will be OK again. An inquisitive patient recognizes Jack as the suspected kidnapper from a newspaper photo and he is arrested. The Dirberg family agrees to drop the charges against him and Jack returns to Germany as poor as he ever was. At the scrapyard, a pleasant surprise ensues.

The first three quarters of the film have a refreshingly nouvelle vague atmosphere with accidental encounters, sharp editing, slightly Rohmeresque dialogue and hints to mid-60's Godardian closeups. Maybe it is just our imagination but Verena's character even seems to bear a certain resemblance with Anna Karina. The film carries a certain French feel even though all dialogues in Highway Society are in German.

To those familiar with his work with the Kaurismäkis', it is no surprise that Timo Salminen's cinematography is again excellent. The camerawork complements the dialogue well with carefully thought-out tracking shots and sparse but effective composition.

Sadly, this French feel seems to disappear about one hour into the film when action moves to the Finnish border, and a feeling of discontinuity steps in when suspense and action elements are suddenly introduced. We cannot avoid feeling that these might not be the director's main forte.

Good actors and casting, solid script and purposeful dialogues make this film worth tracking down. It is unfortunate that there was a momentary loss of focus in the last quarter, thus bringing points down.

Mika's three recent features--Condition Red, Los Angeles Without a Map, Highway Society-- all deal with the meeting of two persons from different worlds. Originally when Condition Red was introduced, the idea was that the trilogy of films would be based on literary classics.

Car buffs will have a field day watching this film--a coachbuilt Bentley, a 60's Mercedes 250 SL, a Volvo Amazon and a surprisingly original Lada 1200L. After all, this is a road movie.

The song I Will Stay that Elizabeth sings in the karaoke bar was made famous in Finland in 1974 by the seminal rock group Hurriganes. Originally, the tune was cut by an obscure teenage beat group from Denmark in the mid-60's.

In the same scene, the karaoke DJ by the wall is played by Juuso Hirvikangas, a long-term veteran of Kaurismäki films who had central roles in Mika's breakthrough works Valehtelija and Arvottomat. He also appears in Mika's Yötyö.

The film was shot around Hamburg and in Finland from 13 October to 19 November 1998.