Kin-dza-dza!

Kin-dza-dza! (Russian: Кин-дза-дза!, romanized: Kin-dza-dza!) is a 1986 Soviet sci-fi dystopian tragicomedy cult film released by the Mosfilm studio and directed by Georgiy Daneliya, with a story by Georgiy Daneliya and Revaz Gabriadze.

For the animated remake, see Ku! Kin-dza-dza. For the musician, see Kindzadza.
Kin-dza-dza!
VHS cover
Directed byGeorgiy Daneliya
Written byGeorgiy Daneliya
Revaz Gabriadze
StarringStanislav Lyubshin
Yevgeni Leonov
Yury Yakovlev
Levan Gabriadze
Music byGia Kancheli
CinematographyPavel Lebeshev
Edited byNatalya Dobrunova
Distributed bySovexportfilm
Release date
  • 1 December 1986 (1986-12-01)
Running time
135 min.
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

Plot

Kin-dza-dza! begins in 1980s Moscow. Vladimir Mashkov, aka Uncle Vova, a generic but gruff construction foreman is relaxing at home after a stressful day at work. His wife asks him to buy some groceries so Vova goes out to the nearest store. Standing right in the city centre on Kalinin Prospekt, a barefoot man dressed in a tattered coat appeals to anyone with a strange request: "Tell me the number of your planet in the Tentura? Or least the number of your galaxy in the spiral?". Uncle Vova and a young Georgian student with a violin (The Violinist), stop and talk to the strange man. During a short conversation the stranger shows them a teleportation device – "traveler". Uncle Vova decides to test the veracity of the stranger's story and, despite the stranger's warnings, presses a random button on the device. Suddenly Uncle Vova and the Violinist find themselves transported to the planet "Pluke" in the "Kin-dza-dza" galaxy.

The natives of the planet appear human, with deceptively primitive-looking technology and a barbaric culture, which satirically resembles that of humans. They are telepathic; the only spoken words normally used in their culture are “ku” (koo) and “kyu” (kyoo), the former stands for everything good, the latter being a swear word or stands for every bad thing. However, the Plukanians are able to quickly adapt to understand and speak Russian and Georgian. The society of Pluke is divided into two categories: Chatlanians and Patsaks. The difference is ascertained only by means of a small handheld device (visator), similar to flash drive in appearance; when pointed at a member of the Chatlanian group, an orange light on the device comes on; when pointed at a member of the Patsak group, a green light comes on. It is also noted that the social differences between Patsaks and Chatlanians are not constant: Pluke being a Chatlanian planet, so Chatlanians are privileged, and a system of rituals must be followed by the Patsaks to show flattery; but there are Patsak planets where Patsaks hold the upper hand and Chatlanians are subservient. The "visator" shows that Uncle Vova and the Violinist are Patsaks.

The only group allowed to use weapons (“tranklucators”) and enforce their will are the ecilopps ("police" spelled backwards). Outside being a Patsak or Chatlanin, respect towards others is determined by the color of their pants; different shades require those of lower social standing to "ku" at them a predetermined number of times, displaying their submission. The nominal leader of the Plukanian society is Mr. P-Zh; everybody makes their best to display fervent worship to him and disrespect is severely punished; but, when encountered in person, P-Zh appears harmless and dumb. The fuel of Pluke is called luts and is made from water. All naturally present water has apparently been processed into luts, so drinking water is a valuable commodity (in fact, it can only be made from luts).

A good deal of the plot is based on the fact that ordinary wooden matchsticks (ketse) (or, rather, the chemicals of the match head) are considered to be extremely valuable on Pluke. Uncle Vova and the Violinist meet two locals, Uef and Bi, who at various points either help or abandon the duo from Earth in their quest to return to Earth, which at various times involves repairing Uef and Bi's ship or raiding P-Zh's private compound.

Uncle Vova and the Violinist finally encounter the man from the film's beginning, but he disappears, making it uncertain if he took them with him. The film then jumps back to the very beginning, as Uncle Vova heads outside however there is no man at the city center, where he runs into the Violinist, however they do not recognize each other. Suddenly, a passing tractor with an orange flashing light reminds them of the ecilops and they both reflexively squat and say, "ku!" as was required on Pluke. They immediately recognize each other. Uncle Vova, looking at the sky, hears the sound of a song performed by the Uef and Bi.

Cast (in order of appearance)
  • Stanislav Lyubshin as Vladimir Nikolayevitch Mashkov („Uncle Vova“)
  • Galina Daneliya-Yurkova as Lucya, Mashkov's wife
  • Levan Gabriadze as Gedevan Alexandrovitch Alexidze („Fiddler“)
  • Anatoli Serenko as the Barefoot Wanderer from Uzm
  • Yury Yakovlev as Bi the Patsak, a wandering singer
  • Yevgeny Leonov as Uef the Chatlanian, a wandering singer
  • Igor Khan as the one-handed smuggler
  • Alexander Litovkin as the gang leader
  • Valentin Bukin as black-moustached ecilop in an egg-shaped pepelats, demonstrating how a tranklucator works
  • Irina Shmelyova as Tsan, the cart driver (tachanka-driving woman, a wandering singer and dancer)
  • Lev Perfilov as Kyrr, the dissident Chatlanian with a tranklucator
  • Nina Ruslanova as Galina Borisovna, the vice-dean
  • Yuri Voronkov as bearded Chatlanian, leader of the „Children of the Sun“ sect (later seen in the subway train, pretending to be a Patsak)
  • Olesya Ivanova as cage-banging white sectarian woman
  • Lyudmila Solodenko as sand-throwing black sectarian girl
  • Vitali Leonov as Shorty (from the sect)
  • Nikolai Garo as Mr P-Zh
  • Igor Bogolyubov as Mr P-Zh's Personal Patsak
  • Victor Marenkov as Patsak, wearing a coil pipe for a mask and working as watchman
  • Aleksandr Gorbachyov as grey-moustached elderly ecilop in an egg-shaped pepelats, who will want „40 chatles“ and „immediately press the kappa“ in a scene later
  • Yelena Mashkova-Sulakadze as watchman's wife (redheaded Patsak woman in the trapdoor)
  • Gennady B.Ivanov as black ecilop, guarding the underground communications
  • Aleksandra Dorokhina as colossal Chatlanian woman, working as attendant in the subway station
  • Victor Makhmutov as the red-headed Chatlanian
  • Vladimir Fyodorov as Mr Yellow Pants
  • Yelena Antonova as Mr Yellow Pants' girlfriend
  • Tatyana Novitskaya as an employee in the planetarium
  • Yuri Naumtsev as the judge
  • Gennady Yalovich as secret agent
  • Veronica Izotova as the gang leader's female Chatlanian slave, wearing a collar
  • Vladimir Razumovsky as ecilop with muzzles
  • Nina Ter-Osipian as Mr P-Zh's noble mother
  • Harri Schweitz as Mr P-Zh's 1st bodyguard (bearded fatman)
  • Valentin Golubenko as Mr P-Zh's 2nd bodyguard (long-nosed powerman)
  • Oleg Matveyev as Mr P-Zh's 3rd bodyguard (young man wearing gloves)
  • Olga Mashnaya as Dekont (from the planet Alpha)
  • Georgiy Daneliya as Abradox (from the planet Alpha)
  • Varvara Vladimirova as young Alphian mother
  • Anya Andriyanova as little blonde Alphian girl

Plukanian language
  • Koo – All words, with the following exceptions:
  • Kyu (pronounced kyew) – any profanity
  • Ketseh (pronounced "keh-tseh", emphasis on the second syllable) – matches (or, rather, the chemicals ordinarily used on Earth for match heads)
  • Chatl – a currency unit
  • Tsak – a small bell worn on the nose to indicate the low social status of the wearer
  • Tentura and Antitentura – two opposite parts of the Universe. Some planets and galaxies exist in Tentura and some (including Earth) in Antitentura
  • Pepelats – an interplanetary spacecraft (from the Georgian word "pepela" for butterfly)
  • Tsapa – a component for different machines. A big tsapa is a very important component for the pepelats. A small tsapa is a component for the gravitsapa; without the small tsapa, a gravitsapa will not work. Tsapa is similar to a very rusty screwnut
  • Gravitsapa – a component for the pepelats which allows intergalactic travel (from 'gravity' + 'tsapa')
  • Tranklucator – a weapon
  • Visator – compact device, detects difference between Patsaks and Chatlanians
  • Kappa – a button or lever
  • Luts – the fuel used by the pepelats, it is made of water
  • Chatlanin – being with a high social status (detected as "orange" on a Visator)
  • Patsak – being with a low social status (detected as "green" on a Visator)
  • Ecilop – a policeman ("police" spoken backwards)
  • Etsikh – a box for prisoners; also the imprisonment in such box (as a penalty); also the Etsikh is a jail with many such boxes ("Etsikh" is from the Georgian word "tsikhe" for prison, castle). Etsikh with nails is a hard punishment.

Release

The movie has been released on DVD in Russia but has gained virtually no notice elsewhere, with the exception of Japan. This is largely due to the fact that there was no official release of the movie with English subtitles for a long time. While the movie was in the making, a censorship threat emerged due to the use of the word Ku (Koo) which sounded like the initials "K. U." of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR at the time, K. U. Chernenko. Chernenko who assumed the leadership in 1984, died in 1985, and this removed the danger.

In 2005 RUSCICO (Russian Cinema Council) released a version with Russian original sound and with English and French dubbing, It has also subtitles in English and other languages.[1]

Since 2013, a digitally-restored Blu-ray Disc version is available.[2]

The film is available with English subtitles on YouTube via Mosfilm [3]

Critical response

Thirty years after its original release, Little White Lies magazine described Kin-dza-dza! as "Mad Max meets Monty Python by way of Tarkovsky" and said it had remained relevant to audiences.[4] Russia Beyond agreed that the film was still well-loved by Russians in 2016.[5]

On December 1, 2016, Google celebrated the 30th anniversary of Kin-Dza-Dza! with a Google Doodle.[6]

Animated remake
Main article: Ku! Kin-dza-dza

In 2013, Daneliya released an animated remake of his film, named Ku! Kin-dza-dza! (Russian: Ку! Кин-дза-дза).[7] The animated version was based on the same plot, but targeted more towards children and the international audience. It had a budget of 140 million rubles.[8] Ku! Kin-dza-dza! won Best Animated Feature Film in the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[9] The animated remake is mainly a traditionally-animated (hand-drawn animated) feature film with some computer animation in it

References
  1. DVD disk “Kin-Dza-Dza” Archived 2007-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Кин-дза-дза! – на Blu-ray Disc
  3. Кин-дза-дза! on YouTube
  4. Blackledge, Joel (17 July 2016). "In praise of Kin-dza-dza! – the best sci-fi film you've never heard of". Little White Lies. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  5. Ustian, Gennady (24 August 2016). "'Kin-dza-dza!': The Soviet sci-fi satire that has stood the test of time". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  6. "30th Anniversary of Film "Kin-Dza-Dza!"". Google. 1 December 2016.
  7. Ку! Кин-дза-дза-дза – СМИ о фильме – Наше кино
  8. "Кина не будет?" ura.ru
  9. "Winners announced at the 7th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 12 December 2013.

Further reading
  • Smith, Michael Thomas (25 July 2017). "'Kyu': A Semantic Analysis of 'Kin Dza Dza!'". Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 34 (8): 765–774. doi:10.1080/10509208.2017.1347863.
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