Yes, of course this is targeted to those who know and remember the never before seen phenomenon that was Dingo's high years. A lovely time travel and phenomenal actor's work.
The story is clearly that of the band's figurehead Neumann, who cooperated in the production. All main actors and actresses capture their characters beautifully with many shades of expression. Saku Taittonen is the perfect Neumann, and Jani Karvinen as present-day him so accurate I thought for a while it was a cameo. Editing is done perfectly, real gig reels are cut in to the acted parts very naturally.
Two minuses, however. Firstly, the character of Lasse Norres is terrible, totally sucky. (The real Norres has been critical of the way he was portrayed, but I don't mean that.) Let him be the "villain" of the story, let it all be true, I don't care. But the way the character speaks is in itself a sad joke. Not blaming the actor - the director must have been out of her mind.
Another thing some complain about is the massive "psychological hole" in the story, after Neumann's lowest point and cutting to near present day. I both agree and don't. Although the film is not very long anyway, I would have deleted the frame story of the older Neumaan completely. As I said the actor is perfect, but this part is just not necessary. It is overly sentimental, loose, underestimating the viewer. We are not idiots. Not everything has to be explained in detail. We don't need to know all the elements in life that eventually lifted Neumann from his darkest times. Holes in the story leave room for interpretation. Starting from his childhood, and the long shadow of the father, were reasonable choices. But I would simply have cut it all to Pepe and Nipa's little chat. (It would also have been more effective, since Pepe sadly died during the production. Right when the film cut out, there were special thanks to Neumann and respects to the memory of Pepe. Would it have been beautiful to just cut earlier, to the moment this calm voice of reason tried to encourage his long term friend.)
