Argyris Papadimitropoulos is an okay director, nothing spectacular, we knew that already. Makis Papadimitriou already proved himself in the recent Chevalier so I wasn’t too worried about him. Elli Trigkou, a newcomer, an a priori 50-50 of potential. The subject matter well-overused; a man confronted by his own fleeting youth and crushing loneliness falls ridiculously for the young, fresh-faced siren willing to enchant him with her blooming vibrancy and rampant uninhibition. So far, so average.
And then I watched it.
Well.
Fuck me sideways.
I shall repeat that for added effect.
Fuck me sideways.
Because what this actually is is a gloriously shot, tightly paced, hedonistic take on a climactic midlife realization that caught me off guard on every possible level of expectation I prematurely held before experiencing it.
Against the contrasting backdrop of dawn’s naked flesh quivering with the brazen need to explore, coming in like a tide to swallow whole the bashful self-consciousness of the late afternoon, we journey through the sad and ordinary, over to the passionate and never freer, only to eventually enter the dark tunnel of unhingedness…
…as we progressively come to the understanding that we’re doing so while riding on a train purposefully manufactured brakeless.
Since I fear this is one of those movies about which I could go on for an eternity and a day, a quick summary and I’m out.
Suppressed, depressed, obsessed and, finally, possessed by his own demons, Kostis evokes our sympathy and demands our loathing while having us squirming with second-hand embarrassment on the edge of our seats.
Anna’s care-free nuisance quickly abides as she progressively morphs into a mirror of perilous exposure held against the viewers ourselves, now, then, definitely in dormant theory, for some in operating practice.
Two worlds collide, two bodies connect, two psyches shatter into razor-sharp shards of discordant bareness.
Do it. Experience it. You are both Him and Her, past or present, it doesn’t matter; somewhere between the misconception and the dread, you will find yourself but, perhaps most importantly, you will be offered a chance to find out about yourself.
From me, a gleeful nod of approval to anyone still reading, and yet another, emphatic,
Fuck. Me. Sideways.
Discover more from Filmotomy
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I want to do my end of year lists now. This just adds to the high quality of movies we have seen already in 2017.
Yeah, even though the blockbusters will start making their way through thusly diluting the quality pool with their Hollywood glitz, come December we’re still going to have a mightily difficult task to conquer. Eh. Better good than bad, right? Bring it on!