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Abdullajon Movie Review

Abdullajon is a 1991 Uzbek science fiction comedy film directed by Zulfiqor Musoqov and starring Rajab Adashev. It is such a funny, endearing comedy.

A spaceship crashed in an Uzbek village carrying an alien boy with superpowers. One of the villagers adopts the boy and then he starts witnessing many strange phenomena and miracles as the boy begins to help the old man, especially in farming. This movie remains the most popular and renowned Uzbek film of all time and it’s easy to see why – it is a pure comedy with a SF twist that was well mined for laughs.

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It is hilarious to me how this is first and foremost an homage to the movies of Steven Spielberg, even more so than it’s a parody. I really do hope that Spielberg saw this movie as it’s a great love letter to him. ‘E.T.’ is parodied, but this film itself was ridiculed for its inferior VFX in comparison to that film in one truly hilarious meta humor line.

Bozorboy is a terrific protagonist. Adashev delivered a very strong comedic performance and the character is both funny and very admirable in his qualities. The money moral was fantastic and unexpected while his relationship with his adopted alien son was truly wonderful. The titular alien is also great and his powers are well utilized, though the effects are clearly more jokey and cheap than convincing, but I did find that quality about it quite charming.

Abdullajon is truly hilarious in the first half. The jokes mined from the alien’s strange powers and especially his look are so strong. He looks Russian and the film actually has a very funny narrator who speaks in broken Russian. The parody of communism is also hilarious.

Abdullajon faltered in the second half unfortunately. I did like that other villager who wanted to fly, and eventually he ended up dying pursuing that power, which was a terrific case of black comedy executed beautifully. However, the roles of the Russians, the spy and thriller elements and the president being added all did not really work, certainly not as the first half’s elements. Still, the film is wildly entertaining and short enough that it flies by as a sweet treat. Its inferior technical aspects only made me love it even more.

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