Kaurismäki has been influenced by the French directors Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Becker, and Robert Bresson, the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu, the American director John Cassavetes, and some critics have also inferred the influence of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. His movies have a humorous side that can also be seen in the films of Jim Jarmusch, who has a cameo in Kaurismäki's film "Leningrad Cowboys Go America". Jarmusch used actors who have appeared frequently in Kaurismäki's films in his own film "Night on Earth", part of which takes place in Helsinki.