Continuing my recent watching of many Soviet related productions, I decided to look into the world of science fiction from the time period, this was a genre I hadn't really dived into much in the past, with I think most of the exploration being from Solaris. Something from Tarkovsky and I wouldn't typically count as watching Soviet cinema, in a way it is like watching a film by Tarantino and assuming you've seen all the American film industry has to offer, perhaps that explains that reasoning a bit more. But with this decision to expand upon that genre, I searched online and stumbled across a few titles, one of which was Kin-dza-dza. I read a brief synopsis on the film which detailed a generally simple plot: two people speak to a strange, homeless looking man on the streets in Russia. He claims that he holds a device which will transport them through time and space. They don't believe him and touch the device, and within a quick snap of a transition, the film takes place. It seems like an interesting idea, particularly for the era of the Soviet Union. Something that looks a bit different to the usual setup of Soviet era films which hold a bit more of a serious tone. This is marketed as something as more of an adventure film with some comedic.
I've seen comedies from around the world before, and the mixture of culture and humour is something that sometimes doesn't always land. Sometimes it takes a bit of getting used to, sometimes it just doesn't quite work. In the case of Kin-dza-dza, this is a film that I felt was totally lost in translation to me, one that held a specific style and humour that just didn't really mean anything to me as someone from a completely different nation, political ideology, and era. Though, I wanted to make it clear in this review that this film isn't necessarily bad, but that it doesn't really engage with me as an outsider, I felt I was lost, confused and attempting to understand it. And none of it worked. The more I watched, the more I realised this was a film for a different group of people. I read up some reviews after online to see what others thought. There was high praise for the film, and some very valid points regarding what it was saying. I looked back at some of the scenes, the humour and the events. I realised that it was not a bad film at all. In fact, quite surprising and impressive for the time. But as a foreigner, I couldn't connect with it all. I found it odd, alien in a way. With no pun intended regarding the story.
This review won't feature major spoilers. But a brief summarisation on the narrative. Though I don't think anyone will be watching this. And I'd be incredibly surprised if anyone does stumble across this that has already seen it.
Kin-dza-dza
The film starts off getting pretty much into it. Two friends, one seems fairly smart and the other fairly confused at everything. They come across a homeless looking guy in the street in the city, to which they ask him a few questions. It seems that such people in the Soviet Union were often homeless as a result of their own actions, leading to them being rejected from the party and not allowed to contribute and obtain the same luxuries as those who did participate and maintain their order and good values. This man speaks of a device that will send them through time and that it's not something to be messed with, but with a quick touch, the scene instantly changes. The two are now in the middle of nowhere. A change in the scene that feels like the blink of an eye. No massive transition or scene that signifies the passing through space and time. Just a swift change. I quite liked how this worked, I actually thought I had missed something at first given how fast the change was. Having to rewind the film a few seconds back to see if I had. Now the two just roam the sand dunes, lost and trying to question where they are. No longer in the cold of Russia, but under the relentless sun. There's some humour thrown between the two as they attempt to understand where they are.
What ensues is the film's awkwardness. The two come across a strange flying object which comes and lands before them. Two strange, dirty looking individuals come out of the object and seem incapable of speaking any form of recognisable language. Our Georgian character tries to speak Russian, English, and German. None of it works. The two roughed-up alien men speak mostly in some weird words and hint that they want some of the objects from them. Eventually bringing the two stranded individuals with them on the flying object. This is sort of where the film started to lose me, as it holds a lot of awkward humour which doesn't translate easily from Russian to English. I feel it holds a lot of cultural and traditional humour which only those in the region would relate to. The jokes about the nearby races and differences, the ways in which members of the Soviet Union would notice changes and differences in each other. Often in a type of deadpan delivery in the dialogue which makes it hard to distinguish what is humour and what is just strange dialogue in parts. I understood that the humour in this part of the world was often in a deadpan manner, but it's so different to what I'm used to.
The film's story doesn't really go anywhere for a while, a lot of it feels repetitive as the people stuck in this land are trying to speak to those who don't understand them, only eventually it comes to be that they do actually know what they're saying and can actually speak different languages too. In a way this film starts to take a very nightmarish, fever dream sort of approach in the visuals and constant feeling that time isn't even passing. The same tight environment that the dialogue takes place in, the same wasteland environment of the sand and dunes, void of civilisation. Everything feels bland and empty. Very minimalist in a way. I read reviews online that people had praising these elements of the film, the ways in which the film looks at ideas like capitalism and the way of life it offers. How a more modern group of people enter a realm in which everything is different to their ideologies and views. Everything feels void, a strong dystopia that almost implies the death of humanity with the few remaining groups roaming around in search of certain valuables that could allow them to escape through the universe. Hints that this land is just one of many and interstellar travel is possible with the use of matchsticks. Without them, people are stuck on this land.
I wanted to enjoy it, but it felt so odd. So alienating in that I couldn't really get the humour and dialogue. The environment starting to take its toll on me as the film started to feel unsettling. The case of old Russian films coming through again: the difference in culture really hitting strong in this film.
