to revisit the memory of a horror that the filmmaker experienced he chooses to animate the fragments of stories he receives from his friends and colleagues in a style not too dissimilar from commando comics of my youth. except here the dark outlined images are beautiful, poetic and horrific. the soundtrack of 80s pop rock intensifies the oddness and provides the dark humour. the animation somehow does create some kind of distance from the trauma of the event- until the very end when this device is abandoned and we are confronted with the frightening images of the massacre in beirut.
the leningrad cowboys are a rock band from across the border from russia in finland which straddled a delicate relationship between the ussr and the usa pre perestroika. in this film the fascist-democratic band looks towards the great expanse of america as a place where their talents can prosper. they travel straight through new york, past the dereliction of the factories, delis and bars of the american south all the way to mexico and finds fame and fortune there. the film is fun. the jokes are told with a complete poker face- nothing is laugh out loud funny –even the funny hairdos or the wry look at the trappings of bandness in america.
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