A pretty entertaining road trip movie with music. There's something simple about it which makes it fun.The Leningrad cowboys are probably among the strangest band's I've seen. They are super exaggerated and their interaction with the American culture is great. There were many things that surprised me throughout and I really liked that they go all the way from Finland to Mexico. It's nice to see the two cultures meet in this movie since I have relatives from both countries.If "Blues Brothers" had a long lost cousin from Finland, then that would be this movie.

Today I saw my second Aki Kaurismaki film, was this one, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, and was on the big screen. It's a film with good laughs, with good charm, a little film about a, insert your favourite music genre here (yes, there's rock 'n' roll and country for you), band. Is the American dream for a band that had no success in their homeland, is the story of a band that has little voice outside the stage. The humor comes since the very first minutes and for us is just impossible not to love the Leningrad Cowboys (that's the name of the mentioned band): you have to love their look (sort of Blues Brothers but also with a f****** unique hairstyle!), their music, their dog, their frozen pal, the grandpa (see this film and see Abraham Lincoln as, well you better check that out!). However we can't launch them, we can't help their music career so yes we love them but practically nobody else does or at least not the producer that at the beginning of the film says to the manager of the band that they should go to America, the producer knows that there people like, well you know. The humor of the film is often just truly great but practically there is not a scene that ain't at least a little bit amusing. The thing of "you should go to America, you should go to Mexico" is hilarious and is an indication that the Leningrad Cowboys are not having a really great time but not only that since their manager is just about the quintessential manager that treats the members of the band just like tools. The humor is great sometimes with this stuff, the manager is having a great time drinking lots and lots of beer and practically saying to the band "now you will play rock and roll, now country" and stuff. We have versions by the Leningrad Cowboys of classics like "That's All Right" and "Born to Be Wild" and we have the Cowboys finally finding their market! And this film was, by the way, part of a season at the Cineteca (very pretentious "art-house", located in the south of Mexico City, but nevertheless good stuff plays there) of rock films that ended today. I missed all of the films of the season but this one. Oh and I'm almost sure they projected a VHS of Leningrad Cowboys Go America on the big screen, but well at least I saw it since I really had desires (the cameo of one of my favourite filmmakers of all-time, the awesome Jim Jarmusch, was one of the reasons. And Jarmusch appears as a guy that sells the Cowboys a car, a Cadillac – "for you guys $700" "that's all we have" "I know, that's why"-, yet not everything will go fine for the Cowboys with their new car and not only because of the car's capacity) to check it out and while I was more enthusiastic before seeing it than after it ended I liked it a lot, a little Kaurismaki film that deserves a DVD release. It's all right!

This is the story of a terrible band of musicians for Finland called (bizarrely) The Leningrad Cowboys. They want to come to America and make lots of money. Of course it is not as easy as that.I guarantee you will not have seen anything like this. You need to watch it with a couple of beers in you as it it is very silly indeed. There are some extremely funny episodes in this film such as the band's manager who is in charge of the money gets the shopping in. He buys a six pack of Buds for himself and a bag of onions for the band to eat. He sits in the front seat draining the bees and throwing the cans into the back hitting the guys in the head. Another good bit is where the band has turned on the manager they spend the remaining money on booze and one of them, fur coat and all, falls over whilst dancing drunk into the fire. Any road up, watch it for yourselves and you will enjoy it, I did.

I just saw Leningrad Cowboys for the third time and think it is a perfect film. Whatever else it may be about, it is a quest into the heart of rock and roll. The Cowboys start in New York playing their soulful/klezmerish immigrant blues on a seedy rooftop, then reel back through the roots of the genre--Memphis, Natchez, New Orleans, Honky Tonk and Biker Bars, road house and funeral...to their destination in Mexico where their Finnish filtered rock returns to its original sound, converging on the joyous soulful wedding as they back up a singer whose classic Indian features are not that different from some of the singers'... The esthetic is stylish and dead pan. The cinematography is actually quite beautiful, lyric of industrial decay. If you like Jarmusch (who does a spot as a car salesman) you'll like this movie. The pacing did not seem slow to me at all--but that may just be a sign of my age. The form is a series of theatrical skits and blackouts, and the tension of many scenes owes more to mime or comedia than MTV. I think my favorite is one involving the village idiot and a shoe that is not the one he wants. Poignant and hysterical at the same time. Oh, and maybe his treck with what looks to be a 50lb catfish... If you have a chance to see it, go. It is hilarious and sweet and utterly unlike anything else you've ever seen.