Mimino (1977)

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Director:

Georgi Daneliya

Writers:

Georgi Daneliya (writer)
Revaz Gabriadze (writer)

Release Date:

2 November 1978 (Hungary)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Pilot Mimino works at small local airlines, flying helicopters between small villages. But he dreams...

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Vakhtang Kikabidze	...	Valentin Mizandari (Mimino) (as Buba Kikabidze)
Frunzik Mkrtchyan	...	Rubik Khachikyan
Yelena Proklova	...	Larisa Ivanovna
Evgeni Leonov	...	Ivan Volokhov (Vano)
Ruslan Miqaberidze	...	Mimino's grandfather
Zakro Sakhvadze	...	Mimino's sister
Marina Dyuzheva	...	Mimino's lawyer
Archil Gomiashvili	...	Nugzar Papishvili
Rusiko Morchiladze	...	Lali
Valentina Titova	...	Opera singer's wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aleksandr Alekseyev
Vladimir Basov	...	Bolshoi Theatre opera singer
Zeinab Botsvadze
Borislav Brondukov
Vasili Chkhaidze
Kote Daushvili		(as Konstantin Daushvili)
Mikaela Drozdovskaya
S. Garell
L. Gaziyeva
Nikolai Grabbe
Anatoli Ivanov
Eduard Izotov
R. Khobua
Ipolite Khvichia	...	Kukush, cap shop clerk (as I. Khvichiya)
Zaza Kolelishvili
Saveli Kramarov	...	Criminal outside
Leonid Kuravlyov	...	Endocrinologist Khachikyan
Abesalom Loria
Valeri Nikitin
Marina Polyak
Vladimir Protasenko		(as V. Protasenko)
M. Prozdovskaya
T. Rasputina
Karlo Sakandelidze
Nadezhda Semyontsova		(as N. Semyontsova)
Viktor Shulgin
Mikhail Vaskov		(as M. Vaskov)
Pavel Vinnik

Also Known As:

Мимино (Soviet Union: Russian title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Georgian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Mosfilm

Quotes:

Mimino's lawyer: Please tell us, did the defendant have a personal hatred toward the plaintiff?
Rubik Khachikyan: Yes he did. He told me, "I feel so much hatred toward the plaintiff, that I can't even eat"
Prosecutor: But the defendant claims he never knew Papishvili before!
Rubik Khachikyan: [Looks at Valiko who shakes his head negatively] Why would he know him from before? When we first walked in, Valiko told me, "Listen" he said, "Who is this defendant, where did he go, I" he told me, "see him for the first time ever"

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Starye pesni o glavnom 3 (1998) (TV)

"Mimino" Means "Falcon"

Friends call Valiko Mizandari "Mimino", which means "falcon" in Georgian. Working as a helicopter pilot in his own village Telavi, Mimino (Vachtang Kikabidze, famous Georgian singer and actor) delivers mail, fruit, sheep, and sometimes, cows. His greatest dream is to fly real, big aircraft. He leaves for Moscow to pursue his dream and to fly with the big international air company "Aeroflot". In Moscow, Mimino finds himself in many different situations, funny, sad, and even dramatic. Upon his arrival to Moscow, he stays first in the posh hotel that overlooks the Red Square where he checked in as a participant in the international Medical conference – thanks to the phone call of an influential relative of his relative. (Don't ask - this is one of the realities of life in the Soviet Union). In the hotel he meets an Armenian, Rubik Khachikyan, a truck driver, who becomes his friend (uniquely talented Frunzik Mktrchyan, one of the leading comedy actors in the Soviet Union who also put the real emotional deepness in every part he played). Rubik was given the room by mistake. When thrown out of hotel, and run out of money, two men would spend the night in Rubik's truck. Then Mimino accidentally bumps into a man who had offended his sister several years back…Georgia is the country where the words "honor", "pride", and "decency" mean a lot for a real man and as the result of the unexpected meeting, Mimino would spend several days in jail and go on trial for teaching a scoundrel a few lessons…. Finally, Mimino becomes a pilot of a supersonic jet liner and flies all over the world but wherever he goes, he feels homesick, and Georgia is always on his mind - its skies, its mountains and its valleys and the faces of his family and friends…

Made twenty-eight years ago, this dramedy has been one of the most beloved among the viewers of all republics and many nationalities of the former USSR. It has achieved a cult status, and its one-liners and quotes have become the elements of every day conversations. Its creators are very talented artists – the writer/director Georgi Danelia, ("Walking the Streets of Moscow", "Don't Grieve", "Autumn Marathon"), and his co/writer, my favorite Russian prosaic, Victoria Tokareva (Fellini said about her, "What a kind and wild imagination she has" and he seriously considered making a movie with her – unfortunately, it did not happen) had created a kind, warm, lyrical but in the same time funny, insightful, at times, sad story with the heroes real, earthy, decent, and very human. Both, Kikabidze and especially Mktrchyan gave their best performances in this timeless (and I am not afraid of this definition) masterpiece. Comes with the highest recommendation. The DVD with English version is available from RUSCICO.