An interesting film from the 80s
George Panoussopoulos' second film -the first being the underrated 'Taxidi tou melitos' [1979]- is an interesting piece of art; it is 'Athens in my head', as the director himself once claimed. That much is true: The city of Athens 'painted' in this film hasn't got much to do with the real Athens of the 80s. Athens was more than bikers, transvestites and weirdos! Anyway, 'Oi Apenanti' remains one of the most interesting films from the Greek 80s, and one of the first to establish the underground style of the Greek 80s cinematography: dark moods, slow development, hardly any plot etc. -there were of course the ancestors; check out 'Ta kourelia tragoudoun akoma' [1979] by the recently deceased Nikolaidis.
The plot of the film exists only for one reason: To justify the very existence of the film! It's the following: A lonely and pretty much weird guy -Aris Retsos- spends most of his life in his apartment-room.He owns a telescope and one of his most beloved occupations is to watch the people from the apartment on the opposite side of the road. As time goes by, he becomes obsessed with the mother of the family living on that apartment. He telephones her anonymously and she wants to know who he is. Meanwhile, the rest of the film reflects the Athens inside Panoussopoulos' head! The finale occurs as the traditional tragic 'lysis'; he meets the woman for one moment, they make out, then she leaves, and he returns in his lonely and pointless life.
If there is one point in this film, that would be the following: Life in the urban early-80s Athens is meaningless! People spend their time doing pretty much nothing. The main character could easily symbolize the inner self of the Greek youth of the time.
Some last remarks: 1) The photography -done by Panoussopoulos himself- is the starting point of a new artistic expression. 2) The actors are generally good. Tha only problem is that Retsos' speech isn't very clear! 3) The music is composed by Stavros Logaridis, once a member of the legendary soft-rock group POLL -along with Robert Williams and the infamous Kostas Tournas.
To be brief, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out. It is worth it.
The plot of the film exists only for one reason: To justify the very existence of the film! It's the following: A lonely and pretty much weird guy -Aris Retsos- spends most of his life in his apartment-room.He owns a telescope and one of his most beloved occupations is to watch the people from the apartment on the opposite side of the road. As time goes by, he becomes obsessed with the mother of the family living on that apartment. He telephones her anonymously and she wants to know who he is. Meanwhile, the rest of the film reflects the Athens inside Panoussopoulos' head! The finale occurs as the traditional tragic 'lysis'; he meets the woman for one moment, they make out, then she leaves, and he returns in his lonely and pointless life.
If there is one point in this film, that would be the following: Life in the urban early-80s Athens is meaningless! People spend their time doing pretty much nothing. The main character could easily symbolize the inner self of the Greek youth of the time.
Some last remarks: 1) The photography -done by Panoussopoulos himself- is the starting point of a new artistic expression. 2) The actors are generally good. Tha only problem is that Retsos' speech isn't very clear! 3) The music is composed by Stavros Logaridis, once a member of the legendary soft-rock group POLL -along with Robert Williams and the infamous Kostas Tournas.
To be brief, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out. It is worth it.
- kostasxrysogelos
- 5 déc. 2007