Total Balalaika Show. Aki Kaurismäki. 1994. ⚄

[three minutes pass]

Oh! It’s a concert movie. It’s the Leningrad Cowboys… with a Russian men’s choir?

Looks like it.

So it’s an hour of competently played rockabilly music with a men’s choir singing everything slightly off beat?

I guess so.

Oh, now there’s just a vocal bit. That guy’s got a very deep voice. Them Russians sure like their men to sing way down there…

[seven minutes pass]

This version of Happy Together is fun.

Are any of the members of Leningrad Cowboys the same as the ones that were in the movie, though? Or is is like a traditional big band, where everybody is exchangeable? Wikipedia has the story.

[twenty minutes pass]

I’m really enjoying this. Sure, the music is a joke, but I’m a sucker for concerts. I love them all! It’s been so long since I’ve been to one! This year has gone on for years!

The do Sweet Home Alamaba:

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama

Lord, I’m coming home to you
In Birmingham they love the Governor, boo, boo, boo
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth

Wha… what… wha…

I’ve never listened to the lyrics before, but… what?

I guess it’s about how racism is good or something? I didn’t know that Lynyrd Skynyrd were Nazis? I guess I should have. That’s on me!

[the end]

I really enjoyed that! It’s a good concert movie! Nothing annoying! Except the music, of course, but you know.

Pidä huivista kiinig, Tatjana . Aki Kaurismäki. 1994. ⚃

So I was wondering: Would Kaurismäki’s recent international success change his movies in any way? More money, perhaps some guest appearances from Tom Cruise?

This is one of three movies Kaurismäki released in 1994, and… I guess that’s an effect? More money equals more movies?

*rolls movie*

[twenty minutes pass]

If anything, this is more Kaurismäki than Kaurismäki was in the 80s. But… not in a good way?

As usual, the shots look great, and the performances are… er… as usual. The two actors Kaurismäki is using the most are really good. Kati Outinen is fantastic, and Matti Pellonpää is, too. And Kaurismäki has weeded out the worst of the supporting cast he usually works with, so… everything is better on the screen?

I’m not sure there’s an actual story in here, though.

It won best cinematography (duh) and best movie (eh?) in Finland that year.

[the end]

It’s a sweet movie. I feel as if I were in an every-so-slightly different mood, I would have found this to be an irresistable little treat, but instead I’m just kinda… meh…

Juha. Aki Kaurismäki. 1999. ⚂

Oops. I seem to have the movies in the wrong order here… I was going to watch the … Tatjana? movie from 1994, but this is Juha instead. From 1999.

And… it’s a silent movie?

OK, Aki. OK. But this mean… that I’ll be listening to Kaurismäki’s horrible, horrible taste in music all throughout this movie?

I don’t think I can survive that.

Let’s see.

[forty minute pass]

I had to mute the audio, because it was too horrible. And that, of course, gets in the way of enjoying the movie, because silent movies were never silent.

The cinematography on this movie is better than anything before (and Kaurismäki was pretty good already), but… It’s not difficult to understand why this is a silent movie, because it’s a classic, classic melodrama (a simple country girl is lured into big-town prostitution). It’s perfect for over-the-top imagery and emotions.

But instead it’s just kinda flat?

[the end]

I like the idea of this movie, but it’s… just not good?