Formální minimalismus jako aktivní prvek narativní konstrukce ve filmu Fallen Leaves

This bachelor's thesis presents a neoformalist analysis of the film Fallen Leaves (2023) by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. The aim of the thesis is to answer the central research question: Is reduction the dominant of Fallen Leaves? The methodological framework draws on the neoformalist approach of David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, which understands narration as a process of information organisation dependent on the viewer's active cognitive engagement. Rather than relying on the imprecise term minimalism, the thesis introduces the analytically grounded concept of reduction, defined as the systematic limitation of expressive means across all dimensions of film form. The analysis examines each formal component in turn: mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound, and narrative construction, demonstrating the presence and function of reduction in each. The findings confirm that reduction operates as the dominant in the neoformalist sense: it permeates all components of film form, actively connects them, and subordinates other stylistic principles to itself. The thesis further situates these findings within the context of the director's broader filmography, arguing that Fallen Leaves represents an exceptionally concentrated realisation of Kaurismäki's long-term authorial poetics, one that also encompasses his characteristic thematic concerns: loneliness, human dignity, solidarity, the conflict between ethics and the law, and the desire for stability.