Levoton Tuhkimo

A pleasant time capsule for those who still recall late 80s and early 90s. Story wise, unless one is familiar with the band and has seen more than a plenty of movies about touring bands, this will offer very a clichéd story.

That is not to say, that writing would have been lazy, quite the contrary. However, the emotional attachment must have been done prior going to see out this movie. Once that has been established - and for the target audience that is very likely the case - story flows effortlessly.

This is not a documentary or fan service (or any mock up of those types) and thus one does not need to be, or have been, a hardcore fan to enjoy this. There is actually surprisingly very little of the actual musical content, albeit the soundtrack has several titles and there are next to no other contemporary artists.

Production quality is high and captures the feeling from the now bygone era very well. Also, archive footage is very seamlessly integrated (which of course means, that it likely has been a difficult task to accomplish), which really highlights both the good casting and high level of film making know-how. A keen eyed viewer will be able be spot a few items that have done a bit time traveling but that is really more a funny gimmick than a blame. Perhaps a spotting game for those not so interested in the subject itself.

While the artistic choice of non-widescreen aspect ratio might seemingly make this a target candidate for home screens, it likely works best on a proper large movie theater screen (or an 4:3 CRT from the period, which likely is a rare find these days). Regardless of the viewing choice, this film does not cause claustrophobia which seems to be typical issue with this kind of smaller productions, where financial matters define the size of the sets.

Overall, not a bad quick watch for anyone who has some background knowledge and recognizes the songs, at least the most popular ones.

Yes, of course this is targeted to those who know and remember the never before seen phenomenon that was Dingo's high years. A lovely time travel and phenomenal actor's work.

The story is clearly that of the band's figurehead Neumann, who cooperated in the production. All main actors and actresses capture their characters beautifully with many shades of expression. Saku Taittonen is the perfect Neumann, and Jani Karvinen as present-day him so accurate I thought for a while it was a cameo. Editing is done perfectly, real gig reels are cut in to the acted parts very naturally.

Two minuses, however. Firstly, the character of Lasse Norres is terrible, totally sucky. (The real Norres has been critical of the way he was portrayed, but I don't mean that.) Let him be the "villain" of the story, let it all be true, I don't care. But the way the character speaks is in itself a sad joke. Not blaming the actor - the director must have been out of her mind.

Another thing some complain about is the massive "psychological hole" in the story, after Neumann's lowest point and cutting to near present day. I both agree and don't. Although the film is not very long anyway, I would have deleted the frame story of the older Neumaan completely. As I said the actor is perfect, but this part is just not necessary. It is overly sentimental, loose, underestimating the viewer. We are not idiots. Not everything has to be explained in detail. We don't need to know all the elements in life that eventually lifted Neumann from his darkest times. Holes in the story leave room for interpretation. Starting from his childhood, and the long shadow of the father, were reasonable choices. But I would simply have cut it all to Pepe and Nipa's little chat. (It would also have been more effective, since Pepe sadly died during the production. Right when the film cut out, there were special thanks to Neumann and respects to the memory of Pepe. Would it have been beautiful to just cut earlier, to the moment this calm voice of reason tried to encourage his long term friend.)

The overall story of Dingo and Nipa Neumann is probably familiar to everyone who lived their teenage during those years. The reason the story arc seems quite cliche is that it was. A relatively quick rise to the top position, the grinding of the success, the social problems of not being able to live a normal life, alcohol and the quick fall have been seen dozens of times, and this band seemed to follow the recipe quite accurately.

However, what made this movie so enjoyable to me was the production. The city of Pori, the accents, the attitude and the look were very close to what I remember from those years. It was always a pleasure to see those international looking rock stars and then hear them speaking with an accent thick enough to cut through glass. Also the look and the actors seemed very close to the originals.

For me the 4:3 format took a bit too much attention. I understand why it was done, but I kept hoping the screen would have some back to widescreen. I have probably spent way too much time watching the narrow formats.

Overall I recommend watching this if you lived through the Dingo-hysteria. If you are of later generation it may take a bit of studying to get into mood.