Attenberg

Athina Rachel Tsangari's "Attenberg" doesn't present the most positive image of Greece. The focus is a pair of friends in a mining town. The main girl is watching her father die, and her only real pleasure is watching David Attenborough's wildlife documentaries, in addition to the sex education given to her by her friend.

The movie itself was pretty slow and seemed to have little other purpose except to show these girls in a grim existence. But at the same time it gives one a sense of life in the Hellenic Republic. Once the land that gave the world philosophy, it's now the Third World of Europe. The historic sites are surrounded by crumbling sidewalks and people missing teeth. It's no accident that Greece has been probably the single country most affected by Europe's economic mess. As the main girl's father puts it: "We went from sheep to bulldozers."

Anyway, it's not any kind of great movie, but it does give one an idea of the status quo in Greece.

23 year old Marina (Ariane Labed) has a best and only friend Bella (Evangelia Randou) living in a small Greek seaside town. She has a job driving a visiting engineer around for the big factory. Her dad is dying and she's growing out of her shell.

It's a cold deadpan delivery from everybody. Starting from the awkward opening scene where the two women try tongue kissing, this is an experimental film bent on provoking something from the audience. However the one emotion provoked in me is boredom. That's even true for the weird dance number. The monotone style really wore me out. Ariane seems like a compelling actress. Her story with the father has good potential. I just got bored waiting for things to happen.

It's weird, it's fresh, it's new, it's youth portrayed. I loved it, it's one of those films that stick with you even days after seeing it. It's a pretty simple plot but the interactions of Marina with her friend, her lover and specially her father are thoughtful, intimate, funny and very interesting to watch. The feeling of this movie is not to take very seriously major life events. In a way, it's a very positive, weird, original and funny movie. The intimacy achieved by the main actress it's amazing, and as much as I loved it, I understand not everyone will get it, or feel it the way I had. But to me, it was a journey whom I connected deeply with. The misanthropic and weird nature, but also positivity and amazingness of Marina captivated me. I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to watch it through MUBI. Plus! the soundtrack fu*king rocks, I love the band Suicide. It's a greek gem, and it certainly has become one of my favorites.

What a film, I adored this feature. For its bravery, uniqueness and willingness to be something different, in almost every aspect.

Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari, this feature was a true experience. An arthouse film from Greece, in Greek and parts in French plus a dash of English, it had such a character, and tone which shone through the screen with such confidence and clarity. The direction is masterful, guiding the four main performances to every beat, it doesn't feel overlong or cringed, it is sublime, and pure.

The main performance by Ariane Labed was perfect, she delivered her characters fear, inexperience, crudeness, wackiness, and curiosity with such a command, that is quiet yet enthralling. This being her first film performance, and a tough one to wrestle with, it is classful and incredible that it was delivered so well, despite the characters absurdity.

Evangelia Randou as Bella was great, she played the promiscuous character well. In particular I found for the random cuts to where Marina and Bella would walk down the pathway in the strangest ways, dancing or pouncing about, they were hilarious and truly something which lightened the somewhat heavy theme of the picture. Vangelis Mourikis as Spyros was surprisingly funny, I had though that his character would be boring, but in the end, I sympathised with him greatly and his final fate is sad, yet it is what would always of happened. Yorgos Lanthimos also appears in this film, his character is a vehicle for Marina to explore the new world which she enters, and he plays the part very well, without an ounce of amateurism as an actor, while many of his scenes are highly sexual, the narrative focuses deeply on the characters, and how much they speak during their interactions, which is funny since these are the only scenes with great deal of dialogue, which was deeply ironic and funny.

The screenplay and narrative of this film are on paper rather thin, however when played on screen; they become so full of life and so rich. The characters may seem catatonic on the facade, but if one pays attention, they become so layered. Though little is spoken throughout this feature, very much is said through body language, though sound, these are highly visual performances. And that is how the character development is delivered, and is driven by bad circumstances and poor decisions, that deliver such strong characterisation. The screenplay can'y have been very long, yet it delivers so much.

The narrative is further aided by the masterful cinematography. It is in a 1.85:1 which immediately is different and gives a larger, more juvenile looking frame, on my screen it was very engaging. In addition to this, the camera acts as as if it were a person, but always either slowly moving or sat down, it feels very natural. No shot if forced, nor extreme, it is a visceral experience. It is beautifully filmed. It was done on 35mm film, this gives it something of a timeless look, for it has nether the sharpness of 64mm film, nor the grainy and retro look of 16mm film. It is my personal favourite type of film, and seeing it used to its greatest effect, in mostly natural lighting, with natural angles, it was a sight to behold. A welcome gift for weary eyes.

On the negative side, in sone small segment towards the end of the second act, the film loses a little steam, and slows down a tad but then picks up again very quickly. Also I felt that Yorgos Lanthimos' character could have been explored a little more than what was given.

The uniqueness of this film cannot be understated. From the sheer quirkiness of certain scenes, which can go so far as pure madness, it was absolutely intoxicating and engaging. This is not a phrase I like to use, but I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, I was staring at it the whole way through, even the more disturbing and intimate scenes, this film as such character and breath of uniqueness that is just not present in so many other films. The way the natural colours look, the film, the framing, the performances and the remarkable screenplay and strong direction, overall give an interesting and ultimately fun experience, I was very glad to have seen this obscure and mostly forgotten about film, I give it a very healthy 9/10

I recently saw this at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Marina (Ariane Labed) is a sexually inexperienced 23 year old who lives with her dying architect father Spyros (Vangelis Mourilas) in a Greek mining town. She shares her existence with her best and only friend Bella (Evangelina Randou) and for some unexplained reason they enjoy holding arms and doing silly walks together. Bella also brushes Marina up on the art of kissing. Bella works in a diner while Marina also has a job but we never really learn what she does. Marina's father is dying and she takes him to and from doctors appointments and the clinic and they eventually live together in a motel room close to the hospital. Marina and her father like to watch David Attenbourough nature documentaries where she and her father mimic the animals featured in them. She mispronounces Attenbourough's name as Attenberg, thus the name of the film. Marina finds a boyfriend in an engineer (Giorgios Lanthimos whom she does not want to share with Bella. Athima Rachel Tsangari directs this original story written by her. Not much of a story here. Not much of a film here either. Good soundtrack to this film with music by Suicide, François Hardy, Daniel Johnston, J.J. Johnson's Beboppers and Marilena Orfanu. Lanthimos who plays Marina's boyfriend is best know as the director of the critically acclaimed film Dogtooth. Attenberg is Greece's official submission for consideration as Best Foreign Language Film to this years Academy Awards. Surely there were better films to come out of Greece so why they chose this one perplexes me. I would give this a 5.0 out of 10.