Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses

1994

Adventure / Comedy / Music

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 53%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 53% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.6/10 10 1986 2K

journey around the world return rock band

Director

Aki Kaurismäki Photo
Aki Kaurismäki

Top cast

Aki Kaurismäki Photo
Aki Kaurismäki as Factory Worker imitating Chaplin
Silu Seppälä Photo
Silu Seppälä as Leningrad Cowboy
André Wilms Photo
André Wilms as Lazar / Johnson / Elijah
Jyri Närvänen Photo
Jyri Närvänen as Leningrad Cowboy
720p.BLU
860.99 MB
1280*688
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gavin6942 6 / 10

A Bit of a Letdown

The Cowboys are lured from Mexico to Coney Island by their former manager who disappeared at the end of Leningrad Cowboys Go America. He believes he is the reincarnation of Moses, sent to lead them back to the promised land - Siberia.The first film is a cult classic, as it should be. The second one is not nearly as good. The quirkiness seems to be scaled back, and the songs are not as good overall 9though "Rivers of Babylon" is a nice touch). Fans of the first ought to see the second, but I hardly think anyone would argue this is the better film.The religious aspects are interesting, though never fully developed. I suppose some more parallels to Moses could have been included. The line "Jesus saves, Moses invests" is a good catch phrase, but what does it all mean?
Reviewed by MaxBorg89 7 / 10

Enjoyable, but not as good as Go America

Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Aki Kaurismäki's rock satire from 1989, didn't need a sequel. Yet one was made five years later, and while worth watching, it's a definite step back compared to its predecessor.Following their success in Mexico, the Cowboys'life ain't that good: half of them are dead or missing, and the rest spend their days getting drunk under the blazing sun. And that's when a "savior" shows up: it's none other than Vladimir (Matti Pellonpää), the band's former manager, who mysteriously disappeared at the end of the previous flick (remember? "And no one ever saw him again. Sh*t happens"). He tells them he has become Moses and that his mission is to take them back to their home-country, Russia. What he doesn't tell them is that he has also stolen the Statue of Liberty's nose, and that a CIA agent (André Wilms) is after him. In other words, it's gonna be one hell of a trip.Shame this trip back home isn't as interesting or funny as the Cowboys'original journey to the US. This time, Kaurismäki doesn't really know what to do with his characters, as most of them are gone and what he has left isn't much around which to construct a coherent screenplay. Almost everyone's behavior has no explanation, including Vladimir/Moses', who's a far less charismatic protagonist than he was back in 1989. Still, the biblical references are amusing, as are the scenes where the Cowboys get to sing, with the usual results.So, to sum up, this film could have been much better, but it's worth your time if you haven't already seen it.
Reviewed by MartinTeller 7 / 10

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (1994)

This is harder to enjoy than GO America for sure. A more somber and low-key affair, with fewer jokes and even the music is more downtempo (including an amusing cheesy lounge version of "Rivers of Babylon"). But I don't think it deserves the low reputation it has... currently a 5.0 rating on IMDb, and one commenter on a forum pegs it as "comfortably Kaurismaki's worst." Comfortably AMONG his worst, but even at his worst he's usually fun. I certainly wouldn't consider it any worse than TAKE CARE OF YOUR SCARF TATIANA or his ho-hum adaptation of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. There's a number of funny bits as he takes potshots at Christianity, phony evangelists, capitalism, and communism (the movie came out not long after the fall of the Soviet Union). Apparently half the group had left by this point, which is explained away as death by tequila, and another batch of faces is brought in. Normally this might be a big deal, but few of the band members were showcased in the first film. And it allows for the great line "Where is the Mexican department of the orchestra?" Okay, so it's not as memorable or endearing as its predecessor, but you've gotta have some love for a movie where someone steals the nose from the Statue of Liberty to take back to Russia.
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