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| Images courtesy of Mosfilm |
While George Miller may have struck a cinematic home run
with his dystopian post-apocalyptic science-fiction action-adventure tetralogy Mad
Max, spawning more than a few unofficial yet like-minded Canuxploitation
and Ozploitation flicks in its wake, it was Soviet-Georgian writer-director
Georgiy Daneliya who caught the ball and tossed it back in 1986 with his darkly
comic Monty Python-esque interdimensional answer Kin-dza-dza!
A film which, like A Clockwork Orange and Dune before
it, introduced a new sci-fi language which had a considerable impact on
Russian-speaking nation with many of the words and phrases finding themselves enmeshed
in the cultural repertoire, this satirical tragicomic piece of fantasy epic
adventure worldbuilding became so popular in 2013 the director remade it as an
animated feature. Co-written by fellow
Georgian filmmaker Revaz Gabriadze and produced by Mosfilm, the
Georgian-Russian spoken dose of post-apocalyptic steampunk involves two humans
inadvertently teleported across space unto a desert planet who must find their
way back while meeting to aliens along the way.
Despite its domestic success, this strange, occasionally
musical barren desert set epic flew by unnoticed outside of its country of
origin for decades until efforts were made recently by Mosfilm during their
restoration of the film to translate it for English speaking audiences who now
have a chance to enjoy perhaps one of the funniest films from the understudy of
Mikhail Kalatozov and eventual director of such renowned Soviet films as Walking
the Streets of Moscow and Mimino.
Beginning in 1980s Moscow, foreman Uncle Vova (Stanislav
Lyubshin) heads out to the local grocery store when he is accosted by a
barefoot, seemingly homeless man asking the number of his planet in relation to
the galaxy. While talking a young
student with a violin dubbed The Fiddler (Levan Gabriadze who eventually
directed Unfriended), the man shows them what he claims to be a
teleportation device dubbed the “traveler”.
Eager to debunk the man’s story and against his warnings Vova snatches
the teleporter and in so doing inadvertently transports himself and the Fiddler
into a desert alien planet which they eventually learn is called Pluke from the
galaxy Kin-dza-dza!
Encountering two telepathic alien natives of the planet
resembling humans whose only spoken language consists of the sounds “koo” and
“kyoo”, the Plukanians are fast learners and soon adapt to speaking both
Russian and Georgian language. Soon the
humans stuck on the alien planet learn there are two factions of the Plukanians:
Chatlanians and Patsaks (a derogatory term for Russians spelled backwards) who
are identified by a special handheld device called the “visator” and are differentiated
by their social hierarchies with the Patsaks being subservient to the Chatlanians. In the world of Pluke, water and fire are
highly valuable and sought-after commodities and when it turns out one of the
humans has matchsticks on hand, they enlist the help of the aliens whom we
learn as Bi (Yury Yakovlev) and Uef (Yevgeny Leonov).
Episodic, effects driven, heavy on crumbling rusty set
pieces, worn and tattered costumes improvised by the film’s crew on the fly and
with the loose underpinnings of an action adventure, Kin-dza-dza! is a
truly unique spin on the post-apocalyptic science fiction genre. Despite being in a Mad Max setting,
the film is rather tongue-in-cheek if not outright comical. One of the few films to have script pages
published in the press before it was even finished shooting, the original title
was Space Dust before script changes landed it on its working title Kin-dza-dza! Also unlike the George Miller sci-fi saga,
there’s a musicality running through Kin-dza-dza! that furthers the
films absurdist and snarky tone as one of the aliens drifts in and out of song.
Shot in Turkmenistan in the Karakum desert on Soviet filmstock
DS deliberately for a rougher look by legendary The Ascent cinematographer
Pavel Lebeshev, the world of Pluke and Kin-dza-dza! looks positively barren,
burnt and yet occasionally grand in scope.
Take for instance a key vista of the aliens and humans working together
to repair an airship and the camera cuts back to a wide-angled vista of a giant
balloon in the distance. It’s a striking
image of a distant industrial construct that is either derelict or nearing such
with wear and tear. Then there’s the
offbeat soundtrack by Georgian composer Giya Kancheli interspersed with a
variety of Russian folk songs and Frank Sinatra, forming a sonic smorgasbord of
experimental music largely created with rusty locks, synthesizers and/or
scratching glass with a razor, providing the right alien sound component for
this otherworldly dark comedy.
The film’s cast, while mainly consisting of Stanislav
Lyubshin as the film’s hero Uncle Vova, the Fiddler played by the director’s
son and the two aliens played by Yury Yakovlev and Yevgeny Leonov, the ensemble
cast of this sci-fi comedy epic is startlingly huge. Designed to create a diverse underworld of survivors
foraging on Pluke, everyone from the crew including but not limited to the
director himself make screen appearances to give the world a sense of
vastness. The standout performances go
to Yakovlev and Leonov as the aliens with their unique form of communication
involving squatting and saying “koo”.
Released theatrically in 1987, the film became the 14th
top box office draw of the year and its director even got an offer to work with
an American film director who liked the visual effects. Despite undergoing some censorship in the
developmental stages, a wrong righted years later by the director’s animated
remake of the film, Kin-dza-dza! nevertheless left an indelible imprint
on contemporary Russian filmgoers who couldn’t help but quote the film’s
eccentric dialogue and acting.
In recent years thanks to Mosfilm’s efforts to translate and
restore the film, western filmgoers keen on the post-apocalyptic
science-fiction subgenre now have a chance to digest and enjoy this rib-tickling
visually arresting treat. One of the
quintessential science-fiction films of 1980s Soviet Russia and Georgia, Kin-dza-dza!
is proof positive even the darkest and most desperate of sci-fi subgenres
are more than capable of also being genuinely really very funny. Can you imagine a comedic Mad Max entry
where laughs are laced in with the thrills?
While it has yet to happen officially, Kin-dza-dza! is as close
to that notion as any film in the world has come.
--Andrew Kotwicki
