The first time I watched Kin-Dza-Dza I remained completely indifferent, maybe a little bewildered. Only "koo" stayed in my head as a reminder of having actually seen the movie. Then, I had the luck of getting it on DVD with other movies I wanted to see, so I sat through it. And suddenly I wanted to do it again.
Unless you are very accustomed to the peculiarities of Soviet times, Kin-Dza-Dza reveals its allure very slowly. You have to WANT to understand it. Just like one has to desire understanding Tarkovsky's Solaris. I second what most other reviewers have said. Watch this movie with subtitles and possibly with a Russian. Or, even better, with a Russian who lived in the USSR. Almost every dialogue between the earthlings and Uef is a satirical pearl.
But Danelia probably saved his most challenging thought for the final minutes of the movie. When our heroes leave Pluke's sands, we would expect the worlds they come across to make more sense. On Chanud, a Patsak planet, the formerly oppressed humiliates the former oppressor. On Alfa we meet an enlightened civilization that one learns to despise for their patronizing attitude of we-know-better-for-all. Is there a perfect world? Is our vision of things just, and do we have the right to impose it on others as standard? Koo.
Unless you are very accustomed to the peculiarities of Soviet times, Kin-Dza-Dza reveals its allure very slowly. You have to WANT to understand it. Just like one has to desire understanding Tarkovsky's Solaris. I second what most other reviewers have said. Watch this movie with subtitles and possibly with a Russian. Or, even better, with a Russian who lived in the USSR. Almost every dialogue between the earthlings and Uef is a satirical pearl.
But Danelia probably saved his most challenging thought for the final minutes of the movie. When our heroes leave Pluke's sands, we would expect the worlds they come across to make more sense. On Chanud, a Patsak planet, the formerly oppressed humiliates the former oppressor. On Alfa we meet an enlightened civilization that one learns to despise for their patronizing attitude of we-know-better-for-all. Is there a perfect world? Is our vision of things just, and do we have the right to impose it on others as standard? Koo.