Review – Koo! Kin Dza Dza

Laid-back lad Tolik pushes some buttons on a lost alien’s interplanetary teleporter, whisking him and his pompous Uncle Vova, a famous cellist, to a desolate wasteland of a planet called Plyuk. They discover a blatantly racist culture, in which your social standing depends on the colour of your pants, ‘koo!’ makes up 90% of the vocabulary, and swindling people is a way of life. The naive travellers meet Bi, Wef and their robot Abradox and try to bargain their way home.

The odd couple get a shock to their self-worth and are forced to re-evaluate their distant relationship. Slow to adapt, Uncle Vova eventually learns to appreciate Tolik’s street savvy. At first incapable of accepting the Plyukians’ dreadful taste in music, they finally manage to win them over with an eardrum-piercing rendition of Uncle Vova’s ringtone.

This Russian animation directed by Georgiy Daneliya and Tatiana Llyina is a remake of a 1986 Soviet live-action dystopian black comedy. I’ll be honest. It’s hard to imagine struggling through this film without the pretty pictures for a diversion. The repetitive absurdist comedy, reminiscent of Waiting for Godot, wore a bit thin. The storyline is as sparse as the bleak landscape, with blips of interesting characters and action few and far between. A cute but cutthroat granny telling Uncle Vova that his music makes her want to puke is a highlight.

Having said that, Koo! Kin Dza Dza is not a forgettable film. My intolerance of repetition made the constant koo!-ing hard to bear, but others may not find that so grating. The warm-toned animation was surreal and beautifully rendered, particularly in the landscape scenes.

The most valuable aspect of the film is the satirical lens it applies to stratified class systems. It makes them look as ridiculous as they are.

Fans of absurdism and animation can catch Koo! Kin Dza Dza at Mercury Cinema as part of OzAsia On Screen on Sunday 14 September.