Interruption

'Interruption' is by far the worst film screening at this year's 72nd Venice Film festival.

As the movie begins, a man steps onto a theater stage announcing that 'tonight, the audience will make up the characters and story of the performance'. And yet, the film never settles on a choosing what story it wants to tell. A tour-de-force of slow rack focuses, painfully boring moments of silence, and quite awkward false endings. One after the other. It is arrogant in the way it thinks highly of itself- 'artsy' just for the sake of being artsy. It offers no real thoughts or new ideas, yet it demands two hours of the audience's time.

I'd respect the film if it was trying to create unique experimental filmmaking. Unfortunately, it's nothing more than a cheap imitation of it. In the movie's final scene, the theater's audience claps loudly at the performers on stage, once the show is over. In the screening room, the lights go up, and the audience leaves in confused silence.

Before we went in I said to my wife that this will either be very good or very bad. It was very bad. The conceit is not necessarily a bad idea but the whole thing is executed in such ponderous way that it becomes pointless. Then problem is that Greek tragedy is its own justification, so even a modern dress variation is asking for trouble. but this wanted to go much further and ended up not going anywhere at all. We lasted 45 minutes before walking out but how we managed that much is beyond me. The script was about as leaden as a script could be, and the directing ponderous. The acting was not bad, but the problem, was that this meant that we were treated to a realistic depiction of ordinary people's not very extraordinary thoughts. Hopeless.

"Interruption" is a brilliant film, one of the few that has touched me intensely. I watched this film for the first time at the 56th International Film Festival at Thessaloniki, on 13th November 2015, on a Friday. At the same time at "Bataklan" Theatre in Paris something horrible happened; an interruption of the "Eagles of Death Metal" concert. It was a real invasion by terrorists. It ended in a terrible bloodshed with 118 victims. We were informed about this gruesome incident on our way out from the film festival. It was an unexpected, shocking feeling that cannot be expressed with words. The coincidence of the fact that the film, which is a product of imagination, and the actual fact of similar conditions, changed my perception by far, of how anything can happen in reality, surpassing the limits of imagery. Leaving from the theater, I was in a state of shock and I talk about this experience in my life until this day. The film has exceeded in many levels of directing. Watching a play has a different effect of a life performance and art, compared to watching a film at the cinema. Nevertheless, the director managed to give liveliness in the film that a live performance has. The feeling that a spectator had while watching the modern "Orestia" on the screen was the same of a spectator watching it on the cinema screen. The interruption of the performance was initially something unexpected but simultaneously something subversive. The substance of this interruption was meant to highlight the inertia and inactivity of the spectators who become too comfortable for the sake of the performance. Its purpose was to shock and paralyze the audience and their everyday life, who watch countless events but do not react and they remain indifferent. The film in general had an incredible aesthetic and a group of outstanding actors. I recommend to all who have not seen the film to do so and those who have seen it to become more responsible people so as to make our world a better place.

Interruption is not a simple movie. It's an experience that blows your mind. What seems to be a modern representation of the Orestea from Eschilo is much much more. There are a lot of layers, themes and deep meanings that may make this movie complicated and unacceptable but also if you can't understand you can feel it. You can feel that you are looking at something amazing, beautiful in each of it's aspects. The ingenious direction is accompanied by a beautiful photography and the actors did an incredible job!

Watching it a lot of questions will come up to your mind and there will be no answers, because everyone is free to give their own interpretation such as in life everyone sees what they want to see.

Like it or not, is a masterpiece that absolutely needs to be seen, as an example of how strong cinema can be.

"Interruption" is one of the best film I have seen in last years. Disturbing and mind-blowing game with our habits, myths and democracy in modern world is something very rare those days. Between the philosophical aspects of free choices and ancient therms of destiny the director build a film experience, that cannot be confused with any other films. In this sense the film is a little bit like a classical tragedy. It has the same magnificent weird power like Yorgos Lanthimos famous movies, but it take also a different kind of narrative perspective that makes film unique. Georgios Zois has it's own voice in Greek cinema and I think it will get even stronger.