Alpen

It has a plot that is inspired, and delightfully surreal. But the execution of it is dreadful. The imagination does not run wild in Alps. Visual speaking, it is a huge letdown. Everyone in the film seems half dead, sleepwalking through the film. Grieving with death is a concept that only makes sense if it is dealt with accurately. Now, I know that Alps is a surrealist piece, but it just didn't resonate with me emotionally. It didn't hit me where it clearly wanted to.

With the singularly compelling premise of a mysterious group offering to take over the roles of recently deceased people to provide relief for their loved ones, it came as quite the shock to me that Greek writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos's follow-up to his 2009 Oscar-nominated "Dogtooth" (one of my all-time favorites) ultimately failed at living up to its concept.

Throughout the entirety of "Alps", I felt I was gazing in awe at a beautiful seed sadly incapable of germination. The film barely got anywhere while maintaining an incredibly slow pace and irritating visual style consisting of incessantly restrained deep-focus cinematography. There was so much potential wasted on scenes far too peculiar and insignificant to add any depth to the story or further develop the characters. Seldom did anything rightfully earn its place in the film; the multiple sex scenes seemed to be there with the sole purpose of being extremely awkward and obscene, while all the attempts at absurd humor felt slightly forced and weren't as effective as they should have been due to the narrative's intermittent solemnity.

This brings me to the film's greatest problem, which was that— on top of struggling to find its own voice and tone in its ridiculously irrational approach— it never really figured out what message it wanted to convey to its audience. Evidently Lanthimos was trying to say something about human nature and the craziness of consumer society, but he didn't succeed in delivering his thoughts coherently this time around. I hate comparing, but I must say I found the profound social critique that seeped through the bizarre surface of "Dogtooth" to be far superior in elaboration.

The end result of "Alps" was a confused, detached (albeit well-acted, especially by Aggeliki Papoulia) jumble beyond anyone's realm of comprehension, so overwhelmingly filled with unjustified senselessness that the most I could do was simply sit and stare at the screen, patiently awaiting some real substance, only to be disappointed by sheer staleness.

I suppose I somewhat admired "Alps" for all that it could've been following its eccentric uniqueness, but I can't see how anyone in their right mind could have truly enjoyed it.

Alps offers another engagingly weird examination of the human psyche from co-writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos. Focusing on those who profit off death to show some of the darker sides of humanity in a cold, offbeat and occasionally uncomfortable fashion.

The core four (Angeliki Papoulia, Aris Servetalis, Johnny Verkins and Ariane Labed) are all great at conveying the desensitised personality the film is going for. Their sympathy always feels fake and they all nail the delivery of this very specific type of comedy.

Yorgos Lanthimos really excels at creating environments that are just so bleak, especially through their desaturation. The overall weirdness can be a bit too much here in a way his other films balance better but even then it's still impressive to see a very distinctive voice find its footing.

A KVIFF screening, from the young and talented Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos, a follow-up of DOGTOOTH (2009), which was a dark horse nominee of Oscar's BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR and I haven't watched yet. But Giorgos' eerie approach of scrutinizing modern-day's communicative malaise has its overt justification in ALPS.

Absurd, genuinely designed, full of fits of laughters about the mimicking set pieces, the film presents itself in a more comprehensive elaboration than I expected, although initially, it takes some time to figure out the real occupation and motivation behind the self-dubbed "Alps"group (maybe Everest could be a more befitting name since its the highest mountain on the earth and its irreplaceability should be more cogent than Alps as long as height is concerned).

But the wacky "impersonating the deceased"groundwork is not potent enough to sustain the film into a genius employment, since the demanding of this type of service and its viability to perform its presumed obligation (to console the next-of-kins' grief) is a moot question here, and eventually a win-win condition has to yield to the conceptual willfulness (in the film it is the identity misconception, a spontaneously unsurprising aftermath). But performance-wise, leading actress Aggeliki Papoulia is a natural treasure, rendering the eccentric antics much more personal dedication (which also includes an equivocal default of the relationship between her and her father, another Alps' case or not?), I put her among my top 10 list of BEST LEADING ACTRESS line-up of 2011.

ALPS is a patchwork piece, nonetheless, Giorgos' one-of-a-kind singularity alone could be singled out as one of the most intriguing and cutting-edge film artist to bring some mondo gratification to cinema nerds.

Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos's second feature film "Alps" is just as thought provoking and bizarre as his Academy Award nominated debut "Dogtooth". He paints a very surreal picture that can be hard to understand, but somehow is still very engaging.

"Alps" is the name of a clandestine group of four people who offer a service to impersonate the recently deceased in order to help their clients through the grieving process. This group is comprised of a nurse, a rhythmic gymnast and her coach, and another man who is their leader. They are called the "Alps" because it is ambiguous and doesn't say what they do, as well as being irreplaceable. They meet in a gymnasium and don't go by their real names but are referred to by mountain peaks associated with the Alps. The leader is Mount Blanc, the Nurse and the stories main character is called Mount Rose.

The film is mainly focused on Mount Rose, played by Aggrelikki Papoulia who also starred in "Dogtooth" as the Eldest daughter. It is about the lost of identity and losing your connections to reality. Mount Rose is a nurse who lives with her elderly father, but also seems to be a playing the part of his late wife. She has several Alps clients and it is hard to find who the "real" Mount Rose is. The Gymnast and coach are another thing altogether, she is always in training and never seems to be ready. Mount Blanc is sort of a mystery. He is the quiet and stoic leader of the group who during a game of who would you most like to impersonate chooses Bruce Lee.

When Mount Rose breaks one of the rules of being an Alp she is cast out, this is where she loses her proverbial sh** and has a complete mental breakdown. Like trying to describe the meaning of a Salvador Dali painting, both "Alps" and "Dogtooth" just need to be experienced and usually more than once. Both movies are now available on Netflix watch Instantly.