Hacker Cinema
Kin-dza-dza!
Кин-дза-дза!
1986 · Film · 135 min
Directed by Georgiy Daneliya
ComedyScience FictionAdventure
Two Soviet humans previously unknown to each other are transported to the planet Pluke in the Kin-dza-dza galaxy due to a chance encounter with an alien teleportation device. They must come to grips with a language barrier and Plukian social norms (not to mention the laws of space and time) if they ever hope to return to Earth.
15 positive1 mixed2 neutralfrom 18 commenters
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20 comments on Hacker News
There is a very weird and a very awesome soviet-era movie Kin-dza-dza. At one point one of the characters tells this about the other: "he says things what he does not think, and he thinks things what he does not think."
I learned of this site via HN a few years back and someone mentioned that the author must be Russian and mentioned the characters from Kin Dza Dza. A quick search revealed the film is freely available on Youtube with English subtitles. It's a great film and thankful for floor796 in revealing it as well as being an amazing work of art.
For those who are interested, Mosfilm has been uploading a bunch of Russian movies to YouTube for a long time.
You can watch Tarkovsky's movies, for example.
And one of my personal favorites - Kin-Dza-Dza! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y
"Groundhog day" of course
most of Schwarzenegger movies because he is cool
Back to the future trilogy
Fight club
Some of the best soviet ones (Kin-dza-dza, Garage, Mimino, Irony of fate etc.)
Rocky
Forrest gump
For targeting Brazil it seems like they didn't do the basic marketing 101 check to see if that one syllable words is by chance something to stay away from in that target market.
> Not to say it wasn't humorous though. People had a lot of fun talking about and asking others about their Koos.
Probably helped with some initial hype with some people just to be able to joke about it. Is it a bit like Mastodon's "toots", I guess. It was funny for a bit, then it was just eye rolling.
On the other hand in Russian and ex-Soviet space, "koo" would a great reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza! a movie by Georgiy Daneliya.
> 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 that stands for every bad thing.
Kin-dza-dza! takes a bit of getting into and it has it's weak moments but there are few movies that made me laugh so hard.
Everyone should watch "Just Imagine (1930)" it takes place in the distant future 1980. It is so full of original concepts we know from [much] later movies.
I ran into the short film "Slice of Life" the other day. It was rather impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eDQ2SSsmEk
I haven't seen Silo, but if you like quirky sci-fi like Seksmisja then:
Kin-dza-dza![1], Ivan Vasilevich menyaet professiyu[2], Akumulátor 1[3], Dark Star[4], Na srebrnym globie[5], Zítra vstanu a oparím se cajem[6], The American Astronaut[7]
Bonus round (quirky not sci-fi): Hausu[8], Sedmikrásky[9], Einstein's Brain[10], Gyakufunsha kazoku[11]
[1] https://letterboxd.com/film/kin-dza-dza/
[2] https://letterboxd.com/film/ivan-vasilyevich-changes-his-profession/
[3] https://letterboxd.com/film/accumulator-1/
[4] https://letterboxd.com/film/dark-star/
[5] https://letterboxd.com/film/on-the-silver-globe/
[6] https://letterboxd.com/film/tomorrow-ill-wake-up-and-scald-myself-with-tea/
[7] https://letterboxd.com/film/the-american-astronaut/
[8] https://letterboxd.com/film/house/
[9] https://letterboxd.com/film/daisies/
[10] https://letterboxd.com/film/relics-einsteins-brain/
[11] https://letterboxd.com/film/the-crazy-family/
If you are on mosfilm do watch this gem of a sci-fi dystopian dark comedy film Kin Dza Dza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtZOl_QxvY
and White Tiger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soRIjIJAUfA
Likely because it’s from an old book that few in the gen xyz have read. It’s been transformed to mean ‘understand’ and it’s pretentious to use in regular settings.
I’m a fan of the movie Kin-dza-dza it doesn’t make it acceptable for me to walk around saying ‘Ku’ to strangers.
> https://floor796.com/data/misc/kin-dza-dza.mp4
My headcanon is that this is from that time David Lynch defected to the Soviet Union with a briefcase full of film rolls from his ongoing Frank Herbert project. Дун was quite popular in theaters.
I second this recommendation. Kin-dza-dza! is a brilliant Soviet-era film of surreal social criticism and satire. I believe it must have had quite an influence on western film makers over the years.
You can watch 'Sauna Blues' aka 'The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)' for free with subtitles on YouTube here:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmGPeowN-0
Other good films: Kin-dza-dza! (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r9XNmqQHk
Bootleggers (1961): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg
The Most Charming and Attractive (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PbeasXUbM
All have english subtitles.
Here are the official free YouTube links to most of the films mentioned in this thread, all have english subtitles:
'Sauna Blues' aka 'The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)': Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmGPeowN-0
Other good films: Kin-dza-dza! (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r9XNmqQHk
Bootleggers (1961) (doesn't have dialogue, so no subs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg
The Most Charming and Attractive (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PbeasXUbM
All have english subtitles.
One of my favorite movies of all time is Kin Dza Dza. It's a low budget comedy sci-fi movie with amazing ideas and a surreal aesthetic, and is quite funny and gets better with each watch. It's a subtle criticism of the soviet union in the era before its fall. You'll be saying "Kuuuu" for days after watching it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza!
Edit: just noticed a critic quoted on wikipedia called it "Mad Max meets Monty Python by way of Tarkovsky", which is a very accurate description.
Holy crap, so that's what the craft in Kin Dza Kza are based on:
https://medium.com/@andreifyodorov_65581/kin-dza-dza-was-directed-by-soviet-georgian-filmmaker-georgy-danelia-in-1986-7dc95f08c7ef
Amazing movie by the way.
This and Stalker, I think are one of the best Soviet sci-fi movies. But unlike Stalker, Kin-Dza-Dza is very difficult to understand for foreigners (based on watching it with different people over the years). Only someone who lived through transition from Communism to Capitalism will relate to the protagonist.
Kin Dza Dza! Is a great SciFi film as well.
There are some good Russian movies that are somewhat unknown to the Western public. For example, I wonder if any of you have seen these:
Georgiy Daneliya. "Kin-dza-dza!" (1986) [1]
Larisa Shepitko. "The Ascent" (1977) [2]
Leonid Maryagin. "Public enemy - Bukharin" (1990) [3]
Aleksey German. "Twenty Days Without War" (1977) [4]
Aleksey German. "Khrustalyov, My Car!" (1998) [5]
Stanislav Rostotskiy. "A zori zdes tikhie" (1972) [6]
Mikhail Kalatozov. "True Friends" (1954) [7]
Mikhail Kozakov. "Pokrov Gates" (1982) [8]
Georgiy Daneliya. "Osenniy marafon" (1979) [9]
Elem Klimov. "Come and See" (1985) [10]
Victor Ginzburg. "Generation П" (2011) [11]
Sergei Gerasimov. "The Journalist" (1967) [12]
(this one is Polish) Juliusz Machulski. "Sexmission" (1984) [13]
(also Polish) Krzysztof Kieslowski. "The Decalogue" (1989) [14]
[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091341/
[2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075404/
[3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100891/
[4] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074447/
[5] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156701/
[6] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068161/
[7] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047650/
[8] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083465/
[9] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079679/
[10] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/
[11] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459748/
[12] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062524/
[13] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088083/
[14] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/
Mosfilm, the huge Soviet-era movie studio, has published a sizable portion of their catalog for free viewing on YouTube: http://youtube.com/mosfilm.
A lot of them have English subtitles. Kin-dza-dza is indeed up there. Brilliantovaya Ruka (The Diamond Arm) is another favorite of mine available with subtitles. And perhaps the most popular is the holiday classic The Irony of Fate.
As Russian I want to share my first association:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-jcCWu31s
Westerners could try to understand it by watching entire movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47CNxwlt9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti9Qn4bZDg