Australia’s most renown film critic David Stratton spoke to Nick Terry on Thursday Drive ahead of his retrospective of the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.

Kaurismäki’s films celebrate everyday people in the darkest moments of their lives. His characters are broke, injured and sometimes refugees, but Kaurismäki always imbues his stories with a sense of optimism and deadpan humour.

David reveals why he chose Kaurismäki for the retrospective, what the director is like to meet and whether he believes The Other Side Of Hope will be his last feature film. Listen to the whole interview below.