Mimino (1977)

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

Director:

Georgiy Daneliya

Writers:

Revaz Gabriadze, Viktoriya Tokareva

Stars:

Vakhtang Kikabidze, Mher Mkrtchyan, Elena Proklova

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vakhtang Kikabidze	...	Mimino (as Buba Kikabidze)
Mher Mkrtchyan	...	Rubik (as Frunzik Mkrtchyan)
Elena Proklova	...	Komarova
Evgeniy Leonov	...	Volokhov
Kote Daushvili	...	Grandfather (as Konstantin Daushvili)
Ruslan Mikaberidze	...	Givi Ivanovich
Zakro Sakhvadze	...	Varlaam
Marina Dyuzheva	...	Advocate (as Mariya Dyuzheva)
Rusiko Morcheladze	...	Lali
Archil Gomiashvili	...	Papashvili
Aleksey Alekseev	...	Prosecutor (as A. Alekseev)
Vladimir Basov	...	Sinitsyn (as V.Basov)
Valentina Titova	...	Sinitsyn's Wife (as V. Titova)
Borislav Brondukov	...	Man Weighing Himself before the Flight (as B.Brondukov)
Zeinab Botsvadze	...	Yekaterina Mizandari (as Z. Butsvadze)

Storyline

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

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Plot Keywords:

pilot | helicopter | hotel | flying | armenia | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Georgian Russian English Armenian

Release Date:

27 March 1978 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

Мимино

Filming Locations:

Novyi Arbat, Moscow, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm, Qartuli Pilmi

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Georgiy Daneliya and cinematographer Anatoliy Petritskiy have cameos as pilots. Daneliya didn't want to act himself but decided to do it when the Georgian who was supposed to play the pilot didn't arrive at the set.

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Goofs

When Mimino is talking to the old woman besides his helicopter on the plateau the type of the helicopter (riveted to no-riveted body) and the size and shape of the mountains seen in the background change between the shots.

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Quotes

Valentin Mizandari: I want Larisa Ivanovna!

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Alternate Versions

The premiere version that was shown on the Moscow International Film Festival was cut by the scene in which Valiko is calling an immigrant in Tel Aviv by mistake. The immigration topic was a political issue and the international public wasn't supposed to see it. The festival version was the only cut print (which later has been reportedly destroyed by the director); the theatrical release was uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in Karnavalnaya noch 2, ili 50 let spustya (2007)

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Soundtracks

Prikhodit den, ukhodit den
(uncredited)
Music by Giya Kancheli
Lyrics by Robert Rozhdestvensky
Performed by Vakhtang Kikabidze
Played in the opening credits and the tune is used several times later

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.