What a weird and wonderful little comedy it is! I know nothing about Latvia, but it seems to me that this is the director's declaration of love for his native country. Not in a pompous and patriotic way, mind you. The makers are not afraid to stray into neighbouring Lithuania for a bit. This is about the soul of the country and about ancient myths and traditions surrounding the summer solstice. Apparently this is the one night when everything goes and everybody, accordingly, goes crazy. Mostly in the pursuit of love. Or sex. Or both. A modern Latvian Midsummer Night's Dream, if you will.
The film tells several unconnected stories, every one involving foreign visitors from different countries arriving at the airport in Riga on the day of the summer solstice. There is an uptight American in search of his dying father's one time lover and her daughter, a Latvian air hostess who brings home her Japanese lover to meet her parents, two Liverpudlian fire fighters visiting their Latvian colleagues, a French poet come to scatter her late husband's ashes in his native country, and a couple of German and Austrian businessmen desperate to seal a deal. The stereotypical foreigners are beautifully stylized to the point of absurdity.
