Leningrad Cowboys Collection

Twist-Twist Erkinharju

Ben Granfelt

Sakke Järvenpää

Jore Marjaranta

Ekke Niiva

Jyri Närvänen

Pemo Ojala

Silu Seppälä

Mauri Sumén

Mato Valtonen

Matti Pellonpää

Kari Väänänen

André Wilms

Nicky Tesco

Jacques Blanc

Nicole Helies

Kirsi Tykkyläinen

Aki Kaurismäki

Tom Forsström

Timo Salminen

Otmar Hitzelberger

Reinhard Brundig

Bernhard Türcke

Maciej Skalski

Paula Oinonen

Fabienne Vonier

John Ebden

Mark Lavis

Jouko Lumme

Timo Linnasalo

Pauli Pentti

Rémi Pradinas

Jaakko Talaskivi

Sarah Vogel

Erkki Astala

Marek Brodzki

Ravil Salah

Jan McLaughlin

Tellervo Savela

Comedy

Adventure

Music

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses

Sputnik

Pyramide Productions

La Sept Cinéma

Pandora Film

Finland

France

Germany

This is a sequel to Leningrad Cowboys Go America of four years before, where Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki introduced one of his most absurd creations: an extravagantly quiffed "Russian" rock band from the wilds of Siberia, supposedly the worst band in the world, played by Finnish actors who speak only Finnish and then broken English to each other.

That first film was a sort of road movie, where the Leningrad Cowboys played a series of ramshackle bars across the American South while headed towards Mexico to perform at a wedding. Unbeknownst to them, the village idiot Igor (Kari Väänänen), who aspires to be one of them, has arrived in the United States too in pursuit, and their manager Vladimir (played by the late, great Matti Pellonpää) exploited them all the way by taking their earnings for his own luxurious desires. Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses follows closely on the action of the first film, as Vladimir reappears after an unexplained absence, having become an extravagantly bearded religious fanatic and calling himself Moses. Their former manager wants to lead the band, who have become stranded in Mexico, back to their home in Siberia. This sequel has the same general format as its predecessor, though this time the road trip is from France back through Europe to the Russian border. Vladimir has stolen something important, and French actor André Wilms plays an American CIA agent pursuing him on the road back home (his thick French accent again clashing with his character's supposed origin).

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses is among Kaurismäki's worst films, and one of those sequels that should have never been made. Already with the first film one was just as likely to sigh at the lameness of it all as chuckle at the gags. The sequel, however, is a much more somber film than its predecessor, which mean there are even less gags, and virtually every scene feels like milking a formula. While it might be worth a try if you are a committed fan of Kaurismäki's body of work, I would be very reluctant to recommend this (or even the vastly superior LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO America) to a general audience.

English