Mimino (1977)

Pilot Mimino works at small local airlines, flying helicopters between small villages. But he dreams of piloting large international airlines aircrafts, so he goes to Moscow for refresher ... See full summary »

Director:

Georgiy Daneliya

Writers:

Revaz Gabriadze, Viktoriya Tokareva,

Stars:

Vakhtang Kikabidze, Frunze Mkrtchyan, Elena Proklova

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vakhtang Kikabidze	...	Mimino (as Buba Kikabidze)
Frunze Mkrtchyan	...	Rubik (as Frunzik Mkrtchyan)
Elena Proklova	...	Komarova
Evgeniy Leonov	...	Volokhov
Kote Daushvili	...	Grandfather (as Konstantin Daushvili)
Ruslan Miqaberidze	...	Givi Ivanovich
Zakro Sakhvadze	...	Varlaam
Marina Dyuzheva	...	Advocate (as Mariya Dyuzheva)
Rusiko Morchiladze	...	Lali
Archil Gomiashvili	...	Papashvili
Aleksandr Alekseyev	...	Prosecutor (as A. Alekseyev)
Vladimir Basov	...	Sinitsyn (as V. Basov)
Valentina Titova	...	Sinitsyn's Wife (as V. Titova)
Borislav Brondukov	...	Mimino's Helicopter Passenger (as B. Brondukov)
Zeinab Botsvadze	...	Yekaterina Mizandari (as Z. Butsvadze)

Storyline

Pilot Mimino works at small local airlines, flying helicopters between small villages. But he dreams of piloting large international airlines aircrafts, so he goes to Moscow for refresher courses. There in a hotel he meets truck driver Robik who is given a place in that hotel by mistake, and they have a lot of adventures in Moscow.

---

Plot Keywords:

truck driver | pilot | helicopter | soviet union | caucasus mountains | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Georgian Russian English Armenian

Release Date:

2 November 1978 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

Haukka

Filming Locations:

Patriarshiye prudy, Moscow, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm, Qartuli Pilmi

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vakhtang Kikabidze has said that most of the film was shot without a script. During filming, he had an impression that they were fooling around rather than working.

---

Quotes

Prosecutor: So, you're telling us that the defendant did not hurt the plaintiff?
Rubik Khachikyan: Of course he didn't. When that guy locked himself up in the bathroom, Valiko could not break the door.
Prosecutor: So he did try to break the door?
Rubik Khachikyan: [Scared that he said something he shouldn't have] Why would he?
Prosecutor: Didn't you just say so yourself?
Rubik Khachikyan: [Becomes very nervous and begins to sweat] Listen, I don't speak Russian that well. When he locked himself up in the bathroom, Valiko knocked on the door and said that he has to go too. You're asking...

---

Connections

Spoofed in Starye pesni o glavnom 3 (1998)

User Reviews

CLASSIC

This is one of the BEST and MOST POPULAR Soviet Comedies ever!

In all former Soviet states this film is still loved and admired, so It's pity that non-Russian speaking audience will never get even 10% of its jokes and humor. There are several reasons for this:

1) To understand this (and actually all soviet film) one must not just know the Russian language - one must know the Soviet system, soviet culture, lifestyle.

2) Those who think that Soviet UNION=Russia are very wrong, and here the fact that USSR consisted of 15 different states (and hundreds of nations actually) has a great importance - as the story concerns the "adventures" of two southerners (a Georgian and an Armenian) in Moscow (that was both capital of Russia and USSR)-great deal of humor comes from their accents, as well as cultural differences. The director himself is Georgian who mostly lives in Russia and most of his films concern Russia (almost all of them are very popular in Russia) Only in one film (Ne Goryui!- that is equally as good as this one though very different) the action takes place in Georgia. (other much recommended films are Kin-Dza-Dza and Autumn Marathon..)

3) It is very important to know certain cultural confrontation that existed in USSR and still exists in Russia - Caucasians (Russia is the only v\country where this term means "black, dark person" - i.e. Georgians, Armenians, Azeri, and others) are rather unpopular in Russia (Russian nationalists consider them second main enemy after Jews, now due to Chechnya war Caucasian people became the most unpopular in Russia ); Characters of Georgian And Armenian visually fit the most standard stereotypes that exist in Russia (- big flat hat, moustaches, etc.) Armenians and Georgians for thousands of years had rivalry and competition, each trying to prove that it is older, better, and more cultural than the other;

• AND DESPUITE ALL THIESE Danelia MADE a film where there is no national

problem - there are good people and not so good people, friendship and understanding between all these nations win - and therefore the film has a great political-subtexts - though it is delivered so lightly and tenderly that nobody thinks to call it propaganda or political film- its just a CLASSIC SOVIET COMEDY, delicious and funny, not that slapstick-cake-into-face staff, but film about real people, real feelings and real values.