Aki Kaurismäki: music shorts

Aki Kaurismäki: Sleepy Sleepers: Rock'y VI (FI 1986). Sakari Kuosmanen as Igor. Silu Seppälä as Rock'y.

Courtesy Sputnik and Pirkanmaan Elokuvakeskus, 35 mm prints in black and white (except L.A. Woman, Betacam, colour). Viewed at Suomen elokuva-arkisto, Orion, Helsinki, 8 Dec 2010.

Sleepy Sleepers: Rock'y VI (FI 1986) 9' – Cold War boxing match parody

Sleepy Sleepers: Thru The Wire (FI 1987) 6' – prison escape
Sleepy Sleepers: L.A. Woman (FI 1987) 5' Betacam [there never was a 35 mm print although it was shot on 35 mm] – live performance
Melrose: Rich Little Bitch (FI 1987) 6' – live performance – from Hamlet Goes Business
Leningrad Cowboys: Those Were The Days (FI 1992) 6' – the bar in Paris
Leningrad Cowboys: These Boots (FI 1992) 5' – the Leningrad Cowboys history of Finland

A top set of music shorts which Aki Kaurismäki refuses to call music videos. Aki was instrumental in the transition of Sleepy Sleepers (1975) into Leningrad Cowboys (1989). Laconic visuals, deadpan comic effects. The best music is in the early shorts. Aki's four conceptual Sleepy Sleepers / Leningrad Cowboys music shorts are among the best of the golden age of the music video. Many prominent film directors have made music videos, but the results have almost always been forgettable. Aki is an exception.