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.
