Garçons d'Athènes

The fact that the director selected mostly street kids for this film, as in _Salaam Bombay_, definitely gives it an edge. Regardless of the viewers' sexual orientation, who the prostitutes have sex with is irrelevant, as the core of the matter is why they get into and stay in prostitution, why they do drugs, and how the cycle perpetuates itself. The demise of the Soviet Union had some rather negative consequences, such as the impoverishment of former Soviet nations and the subsequent diaspora of many of their nationals. Such is the story of ethnic Greek Khazahkstani expatriates. The story is set in Athens, but it could just as well be set in London, New York, Chicago, you name it. The tale is universal. The movie is good.

...a repeated comment from one of the interviewees in this strange little film from Greek writer/director Constantine Giannaris. Struggling somewhere between a docudrama and a ethnic drama, FROM THE EDGE OF THE CITY is written and filmed with gritty realism techniques that in the end adds some charm to an otherwise meandering movie.

During the Soviet Union era Greek Khazahkstani expatriates fled to Athens, Greece where they attempt to fit in to the Greek culture and society. But as with most immigrant groups there are challenges to face in trying to find their niche on the outskirts of a major city. The little town where they live is called Menidi and while the adults have learned Greek and found jobs, a group of teenagers who speak a mixture of Russian and Greek want the good things of life found in Athens yet waste away their own lives on roller-blading, petty crimes, cruising, drugs, male prostitution, and sexual and criminal exploitation by the wealthy Greeks: they want the good life without working for it.

The focal person of the film is Sasha (Stathis Papadopoulos) - the one who refers to himself as Rosa Ponds in interview. As with the rest of the cast he is a beautiful young man with many conflicts who seems to be seeking his identity. He and his friends move from drugs to petty crime to criminal involvement with prostitution (of both gay and straight forms). There are many subplots that could use more definition as the film tends to meander about the streets without direction. The boys become involved as both victims and perpetrators of abusive behavior, yet there is something in the nature of Sasha that makes us hope his life will even out.

Giannaris worked with street kids with no prior acting experience, a fact the gives a true sense of verismo to the film. Both the men and women involved are eye candy and while this film is being marketed as a gay movie, there is very little content to rank it as such - as though the Greek homophobia would not condone a popular movie to dwell on that subject.Nice eye candy for everyone, but not a lot of substance. Keep your expectations low and the movie will satisfy as a study of the problems of immigrants on the periphery of big cities around the world. Grady Harp

If you see one contemporary Greek film, make it this one. Giannaris shows great promise as a director - raw, yet sensitive, and original. The film looks at the lives of young immigrants boys from the former Soviet Union caught between the work-hard ethic of their parents and the seductiveness of the modern, consumer-driven world. These kids live on the edge and Giannaris's film has an appropriately edgy feeling. Young, these boys feel invincible even though they live on society's margins where the trappings of a designer lifestyle seem to have more value than a human life. 'From the Edge of the City' delves deep into the seamier underbelly of modern society but with a special sensitivity that does its filmmaker and its subjects credit.

This is my second or third Greek movie I guess, so I have no idea if this is the best one ever, but it is a very good one to say the least. I did not really want to see this one because I was not in the mood for a depressing hustler story or a foreign gaythemed drama, but that's not really what this movie is about. I would rather call it a lost generation movie with a lot of attention to immigration problems and drug abuse. I urge the main lead to learn English (or French) and try it abroad, because he has talent. the rest of the cast wasn't that good. Check it out if you get the chance, it's really not a gayhustler movie as the people might want you to believe

"Buff and barely eighteen, Sasha lives with his mother and father in a Kazakhstan immigrant settlement on the outskirts of Athens. At night, he and his teenaged friends rollerblade through the city, where they hang out in brothels and work as male prostitutes. Every day they endure an obstacle course of johns, drug dealers, pimps and gangsters, as they try desperately to survive in a country that is not their own," according to the DVD sleeve summary. The cover notes this film, re-titled "From the Edge of the City" for English language viewers, was the "Official 'Academy Awards' entry from Greece" in the foreign film category. Understandably unrevealed is the fact that it was not, finally, nominated. It did well on the film festival circuit, however.

The film is artfully done, by writer/director Constantine Giannaris, with shaky camera shots, documentary-style interruptions, and bisexual subject matter. Star protagonist Stathis Papadopoulos (as Rosso "Sasha" Pond) handles the acting assignment very well, but he isn't given a character with much focus. After five years of tricking and drugs, one tends to spend a few minutes looking a little ragged, but Mr. Papadopoulos is always fresh-faced and perfectly toned. His chiseled chest is prominently displayed, but he reveals little explicit. The parents look ragged, though. Possibly, the key is that young "Sasha" never totally lived the street life, but just dabbled there to pal around for a quick buzz, sex, and cash. He keeps his nose clean, too.

****** Apo tin akri tis polis (11/20/98) Constantine Giannaris ~ Stathis Papadopoulos, Theodora Tzimou, Dimitris Papoulidis, Panayiotis Hartomatzidis