the film is an enjoyable and comical indulgence on Kaurismäki's part; one that will no doubt entertain as many people as it infuriates - though I'm sure long-term admirers of the filmmaker will find much to enjoy from the film's absurdist abstractions and gleefully deadpan approach to parody. Others will perhaps see it as something of a triviality, or indeed, a glorified music video. As it happens, I tend to prefer some of Kaurismäki's actual music videos over the film in question; in particular the Leningrad Cowboys' videos for These Boots (Finnish hillbillies riffing on Godard's Week End, 1967) and Those Were the Days (black and white Parisian boozing and allusions to Robert Bresson), though really, they're all worth experiencing if you can track them down online. Rocky VI isn't essential Kaurismäki, though it is a fine work of parody and a sort-of satire on the A to B conventions of 80's mainstream cinema. If you're already a fan of this particular filmmaker through works such as Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989), Juha (1999) and The Man Without a Past (2002), or indeed, the broader conventions of silent comedy, then this short work will certainly raise the odd, wry smile.
