Ansa (Poysti) works in a Helsinki supermarket, and gets fired for stealing expired food. Holappa is a laborer in his forties who keeps losing construction jobs for drinking. Both take their misfortunes in stride. When the two meet, the sparks don’t exactly fly, but they agree to see each other again. Then Holappa loses Ansa’s phone number. Will they find each other, and if so, what then?

How director Kaurismaki turns this story about two lonely souls who find each other into cinematic gold attests to his particular genius for deadpan comedy. At first Ansa and Holappa seem resolved to their dreary, humdrum lives, but gradually we note faint, tentative glimmers of attraction between them. They’re human after all, and as we smile, we’re also touched. As film romances go, “Fallen Leaves” is short, dry but surprisingly sweet.