Alps

If it is one thing I really love, it is being in a state of PARANOIA. In Yorgos Lanthimos's Alps, we follow a group of individuals, mainly gymnastic instructors, who basically began a business where they act as someones recently-diseased loved-one in order for the family (thinking of parents) cope with the grieving process. Sounds like a wacky story. Well, it is :).

As I like to mention before all my reviews, I have seen the previous work of Lanthimos. Mainly the very successful Greek film, Dogtooth, which is a dysfunctional family with the kids being taught the wrong things in order to be safe from the outside world. That one I loved.

BUT I ALSO LOVED THIS ONE! The small things that they do with the camera-work blows my mind. There are a lot of times where our main character, or so I think, simply named Nurse (played by Angeliki Papoulia who was in Dogtooth) speaks with another individual where we cannot see their face. It is either cut-out, blurred, or even covered by shadows. I love this. I have seen Kar-Wai Wong do it in a couple of his films. It adds a little mystery and confusion to the story. Do these people not matter? Will they matter? What have you!

The tone of the film is pretty much the same throughout it all. Some little indents here and there, but in my opinion, it is worth the watch, regardless how slow you think it is.

I just find it very fun to watch these type of people (broken) living there lives on a day to day basis. Not the major things they do throughout there day that effects them, but the small things that we rarely take notice of. Like small chit-chat with someone else, etc.

I must say, that as much as they seem they are pushing it away, I find this film very touching. The way they have to impersonate a family member who is dead makes up for the abnormal conversations. You can tell that when they are going through this process that they are acting; very badly, too. But that is how it would go. That is not something you can enjoy, nor hate. Nor will you think it's a good idea or bad. It just feels as though it is something to do.

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.

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.

Whilst not without interest, I thought Alps was a bit of a mess of a film. Maybe the dark satirical humour was lost in translation somewhat because The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer were two of my favourite films of their respective years. The Favourite less so, so perhaps not just a language barrier. Dogtooth was a wonderful kind of weird, but still didn't hit the heights of Lobster and TKOASD. After seeing Alps I'm not so sure I'm a huge YL fan after all. What the hell was it about other than a strange cult where 'members' act out the recently deceased so as to help people's grieving process? I like weird, but maybe this was a step too far. In all honesty it was a bit dull. A strangely diasappointing 5 out of ten, but yet I can't wait to see what he does next now he's got a huge box office hit under his belt. I think he should cast Colin Farrell - it's bound to be great!

Alps is a movie where tone was all there was to offer. Having seen it work so well in Dogtooth, Lanthimos seems to have neglected everything else that made it as effective and memorable as it was.

There are no stakes, there's nothing to root for, nor is there anything to reflect and learn from. Everything happens because the script says it happens. And if there is in fact something profound hidden underneath all those layers of vapid cynicism like the "art crowd" says there is, then the movie does a horribly poor job even letting us know that there is.

But not everything I have to offer this movie is criticism. Because from a technical aspect, the movie is more than competent. I actually found Alps to be quite pleasing visually. The camerawork was so expertly done that I repeatedly found myself acknowledging the compositions. And even the actors did a pretty good job with what little was handed to them. Angeliki Papoulia stands out in particular; especially in the climactic "break-in" scene, where everything interesting about it was her performance.

Overall, this movie felt like someone was attempting the most exaggerated Lanthimos parody with every one of the director's signature tropes turned up to 11. Watch it only if you must.