L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman is basically a pure and simple recording of Leningrad Cowboys performing a Doors hit at a relatively fast tempo, but at the end of the song Aki Kaurismäki cuts to pictures of children ravaged by war, a smiling Ronald Reagan, and other politically extremely coloured motifs, thus driving a wedge into the original form of the film and charging the rock´n´roll with a straightforward political statement.
- Finland
- 1988, 5 min
- Director: Aki Kaurismäki
- Director of photography: Timo Salminen
- Editor: Raija Talvio
- Screenplay: Aki Kaurismäki
- Music: The Doors
- Contacts: The Finnish Film Foundation
- Producer: Aki Kaurismäki
- Production: Villealfa Filmproductions Oy, Megamania Ky
Aki Kaurismäki
Aki Kaurismäki (b. 1957, Finland) is, unlike his brother Mika, a self-taught filmmaker. He left his sociology studies to make a living in jobs ranging from a dishwasher to a film critic. At the beginning of 1980s he started the production company Villealfa with his brother and together they made a documentary about three Finnish rock bands touring a lake. He made is directorial debut in 1993 by the feature film Crime and Punishment. Since then he has made 15 more award-winning feature films, including Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989), Bohemian Life (1992), Take Care of Your Scarf Tatjana (1994), Drifting Clouds (1996), Juha (1999), The Man Without a Past (2002), and Lights in the Dusk (2006).