L.A. Without a Map

L.A. Without a Map (1999) is a film you can watch online on iFILM — a gently ironic romantic comedy directed by Finland's Mika Kaurismäki and starring David Tennant years before Doctor Who. The comedy here is less about gags and more about the gap between how a place looks in your imagination and what you actually find when you get there.

Richard is an undertaker and part-time obituary writer in a small English town. He meets Barbara — aspiring Hollywood actress, or so she presents herself — and after a brief, intoxicating connection he does the impractical thing: buys a ticket to Los Angeles with no real plan. Julie Delpy plays a woman he meets there; Amanda Plummer and the veteran French actress Anouk Aimée round out the supporting cast. Kaurismäki is fond of his hopelessly out-of-place protagonist, and the film is at its best when it stops trying to be a comedy and just watches Richard stumble through a city that has absolutely no use for him. Watch L.A. Without a Map (1999) online on iFILM.