Leningrad Cowboys Go America

I just saw Leningrad Cowboys for the third time and think it is a perfect film. Whatever else it may be about, it is a quest into the heart of rock and roll. The Cowboys start in New York playing their soulful/klezmerish immigrant blues on a seedy rooftop, then reel back through the roots of the genre--Memphis, Natchez, New Orleans, Honky Tonk and Biker Bars, road house and funeral...to their destination in Mexico where their Finnish filtered rock returns to its original sound, converging on the joyous soulful wedding as they back up a singer whose classic Indian features are not that different from some of the singers'... The esthetic is stylish and dead pan. The cinematography is actually quite beautiful, lyric of industrial decay. If you like Jarmusch (who does a spot as a car salesman) you'll like this movie. The pacing did not seem slow to me at all--but that may just be a sign of my age. The form is a series of theatrical skits and blackouts, and the tension of many scenes owes more to mime or comedia than MTV. I think my favorite is one involving the village idiot and a shoe that is not the one he wants. Poignant and hysterical at the same time. Oh, and maybe his treck with what looks to be a 50lb catfish... If you have a chance to see it, go. It is hilarious and sweet and utterly unlike anything else you've ever seen.

Reminiscent of some of the best Eastern European comedies, this absurdist Finnish look at the foibles of both Communist and capitalist attempts at reality is not going to change your life, but it is an enjoyable way to spend 79 minutes. A rousing oompah band from a small Eastern European village travel to America to find their fortune. They all have hairdos like Buddy Holly on acid and wear the pointiest-toed shoes you've ever seen. In New York City they buy an old Cadillac and get a gig to play a wedding in Mexico. On the trip there they also travel through rock, blues, country, and mariachi, and meet people almost as strange as themselves. Most memorable moment: Igor, the village idiot, catching up to the band out in the middle of the Texas countryside, carrying a very large fish.

Siberian rock band Leningrad Cowboys go to the USA in pursuit of fame.

After the film was released, the fictional band transformed into a real band, complete with ludicrous hairstyles. This seems to be something that happens... if I am not mistaken, Spinal Tap also ended up touring following the popularity of their film.

American director Jim Jarmusch has a cameo as a car dealer. The film also includes cameos by blues guitarist Duke Robillard and American Rockabilly Hall of Famer, Colonel Robert Morris, with his wife Irene. I recognized Jarmusch instantly, and he seems like the sort of person who would show up in these films. I cannot imagine anyone else who was so supportive and synonymous with independent film in the 1980s.

This is not so much a movie as it is a test of your campiness quotient. The CQ has a mean of 100. If you fall below 85, you live in a really sad world and as you advance above 100 you are able to extract the comical and farcical aspects of life with increasing ingenuity. After auditioning for a Russian apparatchick (who listens stony-faced to their music, then says "no good - try the US" and departs) the band departs for the US. As they travel from New York to the South, the music changes through a range of pop/rock genres. As another reviewer noted, the music is far more enjoyable than it has a right to be and the dead-pan stoicism of the characters is a hoot. From Steppenwolf to Mariachi music, you will hear and see it all. Try the movie again a year later and it will be even more enjoyable because now you can attend to the hilarious detail which you have missed first time around.

One of my favourite films, ever. The idea of a dreadful Soviet rock band flogging their music around the USA appeals to me, especially as I liked the music that was supposed to be so dreadful. The humour is deadpan and droll, much like Kaurismaki himself. Also interesting for an outsiders look at America. Definitely up there in the Top Ten of Finnish Rock Band Road Movies!