Helsinki Napoli - All Night Long
Helsinki Napoli All Night Long

Finland/Germany 1987 colour 93 min Villealfa Filmproductions Oy, Salinas Filmproduktion, Christa Saredi

**½

Comedy, action

cast: Kari Väänänen (Alex), Roberta Manfredi (his wife Stella), Jean-Pierre Castaldi (Igor), Samuel Fuller, Jim Jarmusch, Eddie Constantine, Nino Manfredi (Opa Nino), Margi Clarke (Mara), Katharina Thalbach (Molly), Melanie Roberson (Lilli), Sakari Kuosmanen, Victor Salin, Wim Wenders
credits: dir. Mika Kaurismäki (also sctipt with Richard Reitinger and prod. with Bernhar Stampfer and Andreas Bareiss), DOP Helge Weindler, music Jacques Zwart

Dark roads, Russians, Italians, Germans... And one Finnish taxi driver who drives around with two corpses. Sounds funny? Yes, occasionally this film has hilarious moments, but it's more an action than a comedy movie.

Director Samuel Fuller does a tiny role as a gangster. Finnish Kari Väänänen has a great role as a taxi driver but he is not Bruce Willis. Mr. Väänänen seems to be always better when he is not in the leading role. Well, the language of this film is not very realistic either and the camera is always too far from the objects. In night scenes it's very hard to see all expressions if the actors are a mile away...

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