Georgiy Daneliya/ Georgij Danelija



7.0 Ja Shagaju po Moskve/ Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964)
7.0 Dzhentlmeny Udachi/ Gentlemen of Fortune (1971)
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Georgian filmmaker Georgiy Daneliya, a master of Soviet tragicomedy, was the Russian equivalent of Billy Wilder and Dino Risi. He debuted with Serezha/ A Summer to Remember (1960), co-directed with Igor Talankin.

Ja Shagaju po Moskve/ Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964), written by Gennady Shpalikov and starring Nikita Mikhalkov, a comic nonsensical fantasia, a merry-go-round of surrealist skits, was only a bit too anarchic.

Tridtsattri/ Thirtythree (1965) is a grotesque allegory in which a man discovers that he has 33 teeth instead of the orthodox 32 and thus confounds a society that cannot deal with anomalies.

Ne Gorjnj/ Don't Grieve (1969), adapted from Claude Tillier's novel "My Uncle Benjamen", is a uncontrolled festival of lyrical and etnographic comedy.

Then came the blockbuster Dzhentlmeny Udachi/ Gentlemen of Fortune (1971), written by Viktoriya Tokareva.

Afonya (1975), written by Alexander Borodyanski, about a poor, lonely, alcoholic plumber, was another blockbuster.

un idraulico perdigiorno e truffaldino cerca scampo nelle donne e nell'alcool all'alienazione della disciplina lavorativa, cinico asociale che si beffa dei concittadini onesti e creduloni ma che alla fine, sotto il peso dell'assoluta solitudine, decide che è l'ora di cambiare stile.

Mimino (1977) follows the adventures around Moscow of a Georgian aviator.

the elegiac comedy of manners Osenniy Marafon/ Autumn Marathon (1979), starring Oleg Basilashvili as a hapless anti-hero,

His career was interrupted by a grave illness that confined him to a hospital bed in 1980. He returned with the fairy tale Slyozy Kapali/ Tears Were Falling (1982).

Kin-dza-dza (1986) is a dystopian sci-fi film that borrows themes from Mad Max and Star Wars.

In practice, Danelija's films compiled a lively panorama of Soviet life through a gallery of "irregular" characters.

He still directed Pasport/ Passport (1990), Nastya (1993), Orjol i Reshka/ Heads and Tails (1995) and Fortuna (2000).

He died in 2019.