Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Leningrad Cowboys Go America. Aki Kaurismäki. 1989. ⚃

I’ve seen this one before, in the 90s sometime. At the Cinematheque. I remember nothing about it, except… that I didn’t think it was that interesting?

I guess Kaurismäki has always had really, really bad music in his movies, and this time around, he’s just shifting that front and centre?

I think it was a huge commercial success (as these things go).

[eighteen minutes pass]

I was just thinking “this is very Jarmusch”… and the Jarmusch appears on the screen!

*gasp*

Anyway, this is a lot of fun, in a Jarmusch kinda distracted kind of way. The entire movie is obvs just a goof and an excuse to go to the US and film something, but there’s a bunch of good gags in here, and all these funny little details (like that guy in the coffin, and the dog with the coiffure)… This is like superior pot-head fantasy.

[thirty minutes pass]

OK, I’m getting kinda bored now. I think they ran out of jokes? I mean, there’s still jokes, but they just aren’t as good.

[the end]

I do understand why this movie is a phenomenon: It’s a good-natured, goofy movie with a bunch of music. It’s an ideal movie to watch with a group of rowdy, drunk, stoned friends.

But right here, right now, I was bored silly by the last half of this movie. There were occasionally fun bits, but too many scenes that didn’t really connect.