One of Kaurismaki’s funniest and most fascinating deviations in his oeuvre, this East Goes West road movie sutures music, cross-cultural misunderstanding, and deadpan humour into a pseudo-documentary, crowned by arguably the best hairstyle ever committed to celluloid.
Review #3,063
Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
1989 | Finland, Sweden | Comedy, Music | 79min | 1.85:1 | Finnish & English
Not rated – likely to be PG
Cast: Matti Pellonpaa, Kari Vaananen, Sakke Järvenpää, Heikki Keskinen, Pimme Korhonen
Plot: A struggling Siberian rock band leaves home in the lonely tundra to tour the United States because, as they’re told, “they’ll buy anything there.” The musicians bravely venture across the States, carrying a bandmate and some beer in a coffin, and sporting hairdos resembling unicorn horns.
Awards: Official Selection (Toronto & Berlinale)
International Sales: The Match Factory
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Light – Cultural Clash; Music Performances; Pseudo-Documentary
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: MUBI
Spoilers: No
Can’t believe I waited this long to watch a “Leningrad Cowboys” film. I’ve surveyed nearly every corner of the Aki Kaurismaki universe, but somehow I find myself always deferring seeing the ‘trilogy’ of pictures the Finnish auteur made about a fictional Siberian music band that can’t find success locally and hence are forced to try for greener pastures abroad.
The first installment, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, was so successful that throngs of people actually wanted to see the band. So, fiction took a life of its own, and the Leningrad Cowboys became a touring group. Though made at the tail end of the Cold War, it was released in the same year the Berlin Wall fell. Which was just as well, as this is not just East Meets West, but East Goes West.
As you can imagine, Kaurismaki’s work is as droll as it comes, further amplified by language issues and situational humour related to cross-cultural misunderstanding and unfamiliarity. I daresay it’s one of his funniest movies. It is also one of his rare forays outside Finland, where he had shot many of his pictures.
“Go to America, they’ll buy anything.”
Because the setting is now in the States, Leningrad Cowboys Go America does feel at times like a cross between a Wim Wenders road movie and an off-kilter Jim Jarmusch comedy. Jarmusch’s cameo as an automobile dealer (who enables mobility) speaks much to this quaint auteuristic alignment of three outstanding directors of that period.
What I enjoyed most about Kaurismaki’s film are the music segments, as the band realises that they have to adapt to American tastes—in comes rock-and-roll, country, folk, and more. In many of Kaurismaki’s films, bands playing in cafes and bars are part and parcel of his iconography, though these function more as transient spaces for his protagonists to find that elusive human connection or romantic partner.
Here, they are full-blown musical performances, so much so that their fictive elements become sutured into reality, transforming the film into a pseudo-documentary. I think this is the most fascinating aspect of the film that is quite unlike what Kaurismaki had done at the time, or has done since. Plus, these musicians come with arguably the best hairstyle ever presented on celluloid.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 