Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Unable to make it big in frozen Finland, the Leningrad Cowboys, a talent-free pop group with a bizarre image and an idiosyncratic sound, head for America, where - a local promoter assures them - people will 'swallow any kind of shit'. En route to a wedding reception gig in Mexico, they drive their newly acquired Cadillac from one seedy venue to the next, taking in what Kaurismäki calls 'the steamy bars and honest folk and backyards of the Hamburger Nation'. Even without his cameo appearance as a used-car dealer, Jim Jarmusch's influence would be obvious from the tracking shots of dingy downtown areas, the stylised dialogue, and cryptic inter-titles. But Kaurismäki makes this engaging, comic road movie his own with a distinctive visual style, great running gags (the band carry with them a coffin containing their frozen bass guitarist), some memorably dreadful tunes, and his generosity towards the characters and the ordinary people they meet. Looked at superficially, it's a one-joke movie, but as with Jarmusch, the textured images and oblique nuances take priority over the wacky premise and slender storyline.