Mimino

Mimino
Film poster
Directed byGeorgiy Daneliya
Written byGeorgiy Daneliya
Revaz Gabriadze
Viktoriya Tokareva
Produced byMosfilm
StarringVakhtang Kikabidze
Frunzik Mkrtchyan
CinematographyAnatoliy Petritskiy
Music byGiya Kancheli
Release date
  • 1977 (1977)
Running time
97 minutes
CountrySoviet Union
LanguagesRussian
Georgian
Armenian

Mimino (Russian: Мимино, Georgian: მიმინო, Armenian: Միմինո) is a 1977 comedy-drama film by Soviet director Georgiy Daneliya produced by Mosfilm and the Georgian Film Studio, starring Vakhtang Kikabidze and Frunzik Mkrtchyan. Anatoliy Petritskiy served as the film's Director of Photography. The Soviet era comedy won the 1977 Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival.[1]

Plot

Valentin Mizandari, nicknamed Mimino (Georgian: მიმინო; lit. 'sparrowhawk'), is a Georgian bush pilot flying Mi-2 helicopters between remote villages and his hometown Telavi. When he reunites with his former flight academy classmate Valera, who is a Tu-144 pilot in Tbilisi, Mimino meets Valera's stewardess colleague Larisa and becomes infatuated with her. Comparing his modest work to Valera's glamorous career, he begins to feel disillusioned with his life. After being reprimanded for using his helicopter to transport a cow for an old woman in the village, he asks his boss for a transfer to larger aircraft, hoping eventually to become an airline pilot.

Mimino goes to Moscow, leaving his family and his old life behind. Before his departure, his grandfather gives him a cryptic warning: if he ever encounters a particular man, he must not kill him. In Moscow, he obtains a room in an exclusive hotel through close connections. He shares it with boisterous Armenian truck driver Ruben "Rubik" Hachikyan, who has been given the room after being mistaken for an endocrinologist with the same surname. The two quickly become friends.

Mimino calls Larisa and invites her to dinner at the hotel. Although she ostensibly accepts, she does not come, leaving him disappointed. Rubik suggests that Mimino should instead have invited her somewhere associated with culture, and interprets her absence as a sign that she comes from a 'moral family'. Taking his advice, Mimino asks her out again to a theater; she once again accepts. Meanwhile, Mimino submits his application to become an airline pilot. Things begin to unravel when the hotel discovers that Rubik is not the endocrinologist they were expecting, and the two men are promptly thrown out. With nowhere to stay, they sleep in Rubik's truck, and head to the theater the next day. Mimino calls Larisa from a payphone; two young girls answer, pretending to be Larisa. The girls insult him and tell him to get lost. Unaware that he is speaking to her younger sister rather than Larisa herself, Mimino believes that Larisa has rejected him. Dejected, the duo go to the opera together instead.

The next morning, Rubik decides to return home to Dilijan. Before leaving, Rubik gives Mimino a spare tire and suggests that they sell it, as he is running out of money. While looking for a buyer, they knock on the door of Nugzar Papashvili. Mimino instantly recognizes him and reacts with anger, forcing his way into the apartment. Nugzar hides in the bathroom and has his wife call the police. Accused of assaulting Nugzar and breaking his chandelier, Mimino is arrested.

At first, Mimino refuses to explain his hostility towards Nugzar. He denies knowing him and tells both his lawyer and the court that he has no prior grudge against him. Rubik, summoned as a witness, attempts to defend him, but Mimino's refusal to justify his actions leaves the court with no choice but sentence him to two years in prison. His lawyer reveals that she has obtained information on the reason for their hostility from the Telavi police department. She uncovers that Nugzar previously had an affair with Mimino’s sister, promising to marry her. He did not keep his promise, abandoning her despite their having a son together. In light of this information, the court revokes Mimino’s sentence, reducing it to a fine.

Mimino and Rubik part ways, but Rubik assures Mimino that they will meet again someday. Mimino then learns that he is ineligible to begin training as an airline pilot as he has exceeded the maximum age of 35 by three days; he explains that he spent his 35th birthday in prison, leaving the officers dumbfounded.

With his prospects in Moscow seemingly exhausted, Mimino heads to Vnukovo Airport and tries to sell his watch. There he meets Ivan "Vano" Volokhov, who immediately recognizes Mimino as the son of an old wartime friend. Vano arranges an interview for him with the airline chairman. During the interview, it becomes clear that Vano has mistaken Mimino's father for another man and that the supposed wartime connection was a mix-up. Embarrassed, Mimino admits the mistake rather than taking advantage of it and gets up to leave. Impressed by his honesty and upstanding character, the chairman nevertheless offers him the job.

Mimino becomes an international airline pilot and eventually flies a Tu-144 to West Berlin. However, he quickly discovers that his new career does not bring him the satisfaction he expected. Remembering Rubik's young son and their conversation about the absence of green inflatable crocodiles in the Soviet Union, he buys one as a gift for the boy. He attempts to telephone Rubik from West Berlin, but the operator is unable to connect him to Dilijan. When Mimino instead gives the operator the name "Telavi", she mishears him and calls Tel Aviv. By pure chance he is connected to Isak, a Georgian emigrant living there. They sing a children’s song together as Isak is moved to tears at hearing his native language. This encounter makes Mimino increasingly homesick.

Mimino subsequently encounters Valera and Larisa again. When Larisa asks if he remembers her, he initially denies knowing her. She explains to him that it was her younger sister who had answered the phone in Moscow and impersonated her. Larisa tells him that she will be waiting for his call if he is ever in Moscow. Despite this revelation, Mimino remains unsettled by his life abroad. During the return flight, his emotions get the better of him as he lashes out at a stewardess for supposedly treating him like a kid.

The film abruptly cuts to Mimino back home in Telavi, where he is once again flying Mi-2 helicopters. Having experienced the life he had believed would make him happier, he has returned to his hometown and his former occupation, now genuinely content with the life he had previously taken for granted.

Cast

Release

Mimino was selected for the 10th Moscow International Film Festival in 1977, but was subject to censorship. Notably, director Georgiy Daneliya managed to save the "Telavi/Tel Aviv" phone call scene despite the state's limitations of emigration to Israel by Soviet Jews. Reportedly, Daneliya was disgusted by the cuts and buried a copy of the "sanitized" version in his yard.[2]

DVD Extras

As a part of the DVD extras accompanying the film, the cinematographer, Anatoliy Petritskiy, is interviewed about the film. He reminisces about his experiences working with Daneliya and the actors. Having known Daneliya for some time and having seen several of his films, he was very happy to receive the offer to work with him. Initially the two were working on a different film in 1977, and discussed the doubts they had about the script, after which they decided to work on Mimino as an alternative. Petritskiy was surprised that Goskino had already approved the film and that funding had been secured, and the project moved forward. Petritskiy discusses the locations of the various shots in the film, which includes several villages in Georgia, the Tbilisi airport, Moscow, and West Germany. According to Petritskiy, casting the film was not a problem, as Daneliya was familiar with all of the actors in the film. More strange to the cinematographer, was Daneliya's wish to shoot scenes in the mountainous region of Tusheti, as it was a very remote area that could only be reached by helicopter. Petritskiy described the conditions as "medieval". He noted that the lack of electricity had "put its stamp on the character of the population of Omalo", which basically lived without light. The conflict between a simple way of life and that of the big city is to him the central conflict of the film. It is because of this that he filmed the movie in a "restrained style". He points out that even the portions of the film shot in Moscow are static shots or simple panoramas. He considers the landscapes of Georgia in the film to be "extremely beautiful". Petritskiy then discusses the various shots at airports, which were done as a montage — the helicopter in Tbilisi, and the magnificent shot of the Tu-144 plane in Moscow. Initially the latter part of the film was to be shot in America, but because of "purely budgetary reasons", the cast and crew could not film there, opting to shoot in West Berlin; thus, the script was revised. Petritskiy notes that it was arranged that the group would stay in East Berlin (again for economic reasons) and had to cross the border every day to the American zone to film at the Tegel Airport. As for the scenes with the cow hanging from the helicopter, it was shot in two stages: a papier-mache dummy of a cow was used with the helicopter for the far off shots, and a live cow was lifted by a crane was used for the close-ups. He notes that the cow was only hung at a low height, but high enough to use the blue sky as a backdrop, and the cow was not hurt. Petritskiy did not consider the scene to be difficult, pointing out that the winter scenes were much harder. He details the harsh living conditions in the village of Darklo where they stayed. He describes how few locals stay during the winter, and how the living quarters were not guarded or locked, but housed a few shepherds who had stayed back for the winter. He explains how there were "sleep-benches" within the houses, and how they lived on canned preserves during their stay, sharing their "feast" with the hungry shepherds there. In conclusion, Petritskiy notes that he "got a very pleasant impression" from working on the film.

Awards

  • 1977 – Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival
  • 1978 – "Golden Lacheno" Award at the 19th IFF in Avellino (Italy)
  • 1978 – Best Comedy Film Award at the 11th All-Union Film Festival in Yerevan
  • 1978 – USSR State Prize (Director G. Daneliya, Actors V. Kikabidze, F. Mkrtchyan)

References

  1. ↑ "10th Moscow International Film Festival (1977)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Lomsadze, Giorgi (January 18, 2023). "Georgia and ex-USSR say goodbye to "Mimino"". Eurasianet.
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