Attenberg

Difficult. That's what cult stands for in this situation. Greece's highest creations come from a group of people where they recycle and create via a type of rotation. The producer of Dogtooth become a director, the director an actor and so on. Not bad at all. Follows the artistic aspect of Dogtooth, showing a story on adulthood and dealing with loss and what you are. An unconventional human being (with a touch of Asperger's syndrome), a loving and caring father, a slutty best friend and a partner almost like an alter ego, resembles to her father, and mirrors herself. Honest, familiar yet artsy, method-ish and pretentious from time to time. But still opens up to the viewers, where the twisted is welcome, no one judges and offers himself to the public effortlessly, honestly almost unconditionally. A new era, post modern, unlocks the contemporary social establishment.

According to one of the main characters, Greece is a country which has moved from keeping sheep to IT, without passing industrialism. And this is not the Greece you see in postcards. It's post modernism in an ugly shape, the remains of an overrated 20th century.

One of the girls here is 23 years old and has always rejected both sex and love. Her female friend is on the other hand very experienced. Their relationship is somewhat cold, although finds expression in their dancing together in a yard.

A father and architect dies, not any longer believing in his 1900s. The 23-year-old girl almost talks a relation with a man into pieces. This is a form experiment, but it's not that successful. But it very much rejects that old bad century.

Wihtout much info regarding the writer/director or a film presentation it's hard to solve the puzzle of what I've just watched (I have Chevalier in my watchlist: good reason to watch it sooner than later).

While I'm not sure if Attenberg is about human ethology, about a father-daughter bond, about Greece, industrial districts, young women, modern relationships or modern relationships of Greek young women in industrial districts...

OR simply autobiographical...

While I'm not sure of any of these, I can say that Attenberg is a pleasing and powerful watch.

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

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.