Valiko Mizandari, nicknamed Mimino (Georgian: მიმინო; lit.'sparrowhawk'), is a Georgian bush pilot flying helicopters between small villages and his hometown Telavi. However, when he reunites with his former flight academy classmate Valera, a Tu-144 pilot, he meets stewardess Larisa, who catches his eye. After being punished for unauthorized transport of a cow for an old woman in the village, he asks for recertification and a transfer, hoping to fly large airliners around the world.
Mimino goes to Moscow, leaving his life and family behind, and gets a hotel room with boisterous Armenian truck driver Ruben "Rubik" Hachikyan who was mistaken for an endocrinologist with the same surname. He tries to ask Larisa out, but both attempts fail as he struggles to adjust to life in the metropolis and his ambitions conflict with Rubik's yearning for home. Things turn worse when the real endocrinologist shows up and the duo are thrown out. They sleep in Rubik's truck and try to sell a tire so Mimino doesn't run out of money, but encounters Papashvili, a fellow Telavi native who Mimino assaults as part of a family feud over the former's impregnation and deceit of his sister. Although his lawyer manages to get him out of jail, he runs out of money and his application is rejected.
In his moment of need, Mimino meets Ivan "Vano" Volokhov, his dad's friend from the war. Vano gets him an interview with the airline chairman; although his connection to Vano turns out to be another mix-up, Mimino gets the job and first flies to Berlin, where his international dreams don't match up to reality. Another mistake leads to a chance phone call to a Georgian immigrant in Tel Aviv which reinforces his homesickness. Returning to the airport, Mimino meets Valera and Larisa again, but refuses her interest. Finally, he returns home to Telavi to fly helicopters again.
Nikolay Grabbe as aviation officer, Volokhov's war friend
Release
Minimo 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
The film's cinematographer, Anatoliy Petritskiy, is interviewed about the film. He reminisces about his experiences working with Daneliya and the actors. He had known Daneliya for some time and had 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, to include various 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 Tushetia, because it was a very remote area that could only be reached by helicopter, rather than roads. Petritskiy described the conditions as "medieval". He noted that the lack of electricity had "put its stamp of the character of the population of Omalo", which basically lived without light. He described the society as "patriarchic". He describes this as the conflict in the film—the conflict between the simple way of life and the way of life in the big city—this is the meaning of the film as he sees it. It is because of this that he filmed the movie in a very simple style, "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 TU plane shot in Moscow. Initially the latter part of the film was to be shot in America, but because of "purely budgetary reasons" according to Petritskiy, the cast and crew could not film there, so opted to shoot in West Berlin. Thus, the script was revised. Petritskiy notes that the Soviets were in power during 1977, so it was arranged that the group would stay in East Berlin—again "for economic reasons", and every day had to cross the border 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 how he "got a very pleasant impression from the work on that film," noting that it was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival and won the top prize there.
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)
