Leningrad Cowboys: Those Were the Days

The words "Greatest Finnish filmmaker" apply to Aki Kaurismaki for many reasons, besides my ignorance of Finnish film and the fact that he's the only remotely famous Finnish director. This little short film (5 minutes on video) displays his minimalist style well: no dialogue, only a song and images to illuminate the action. Less typical are the black and white images. Otherwise, this is a charming introduction to his work. The Leningrad Cowboys, a Finnish band Kaurismaki's worked with multiple times, provide the music for this, essentially a music video. The tune is an old Russian folk song, reworked into a rock song. While they perform in a Paris cafe, a man with a donkey walks in and starts steaming hay for the donkey. There actually is a thread of coherent story here, but the bizarre seriousness with which the whole thing is done really makes this a charming short. The band performs while staring forth absolutely expressionless. Everybody's hair and shoes are bizarre. All kinds of little elements make this a charming little bizarre joke - kind of like David Lynch without any underlying morality or violence. Very fun.

Generally the idea of a song is to make people happy either through beats or lyrics. Many viewers who watch "Those were the days" are bound to ask if it is just a song ? It is more of a song than a short film. The notion of 'so much in so little' seems to be true in this work of cinema by Aki Kaurismaki. It shows how he has been able to give surreal touches to a simple song. Among other things, one would be able to recognize the attitude of French people in Paris who seem not to allow people with animals to enter a restaurant. The love of a man for an animal is shown in scenes where the hero takes trouble to cook food for his donkey. This gesture is appreciated by a lovely lady who decides to get closer to him. By showing a bartender who looks similar to Elvis Presley, Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki has paid his idiosyncratic tribute to the greatest king of Rock and Roll. This film's music as well as it photography are worthy of being appreciated.

Supposedly set in "Paris, 1994" (the Eiffel Tower is also seen in the background) a man (with the "reverse ducktail" hairstyle of the Leningrad Cowboys - hair sticking a foot and a half in front of their face - and their two foot boots with the curled toes) and his donkey are refused admission to the bar "La Maison du Vin". The bartender points to a sign picturing a donkey with an "X" through it. The Leningrad Cowboys are playing the song in the bar. A blonde woman sings a verse (this is the actress Kirsi Tykkylainen, who sings the song in the concert film TOTAL BALALAIKA SHOW. She also picks up the escapee at the end of THRU THE WIRE). She has the same "reverse ducktail" hairstyle as the group, as does a dog in the bar - which cracked me up completely! She takes the man's hand at the end of the song and the piece ends with the bar owner petting the donkey. Surreal - and classic Kaurismaki.

A story from 1994 reminding one from the inter-war period. The hair style of Leningrad Cowboys and a man with his donkey entering in a bar . A woman, seduced by the donkey's owner . And, sure, Those Were the days.

The atmosphere - the cigarre smoke is supposed - , the end - the poor man wins -, the drops of eccentricity well used, the shoes and the little dog and, sure, the enigma of presence of donkey and its master in bar are admirable parts for frame of song. In fact, the video gives new nuances to lyrics in provocative but full charming manner, proposing new touches of melancholia.

In short, seductive. And just Leningrad Cowboys spirit.