Attenberg

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.

Dark, unpleasant movie about contemporary Greece, set by a dying father and a lost-soul daughter. Strange how you can fall in love with an actress you haven't seen before, as I did with Ariane Labed playing Marina. I guess she reminded me both physically and spiritually of an ex-girlfriend. Attractive, somehow boyish, always making the other move, both at a distance and now and then unexpectedly intimate. All the talking in other reviews about Marina being emotionally 'dead' is total nonsense. You have to (try to) understand this character, but not many men are willing or able to. To me she was the shining light in this portrayal of a depressed, bankrupt and humiliated country. This movie worked like a magnet to me. After I finished watching it, I was almost certain the director had to be a woman of about my age. I was right. I suppose Ariane has a great filming future ahead of her, but I hope she will perform in movies like this one. But it could just as well be her best role already.

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.

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.

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.