yorgostsi

Premiered at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, LITTLE THINGS THAT WENT WRONG makes for the debut full length feature film of Greek director Haris Vafeiadis. The film consists of a mixture of black comedy and psychological drama that carries in its main core the character studies of its two main protagonists.

The narrative that crosses between the two protagonists tries to explore their psyche in comparison with the circumstances life throws at them. It keeps an unnecessary realistic tone that, in many ways, tries too hard and, thus, creates a world of stereotypical and cliché social divisions to establish the differences - that are brought down by their common inner odyssey or so it insinuates - between the two main characters. The characters get lost in their own ambition for retribution in order to experience their personal catharsis - and when they do reach that point, the payoff feels like there wasn't really ever something that purposeful or sorrowful in the first place - which makes it hard for the audience to connect with them and really care about their personal stories.

LITTLE THINGS THAT WENT WRONG lacks in several aspects, mainly in the angle that it tries to approach and establish its themes. Like it doesn't really knows what it wants to communicate with its audience. The change of the mood from drama to black comedy didn't really work really well here either, so as it would seem like a more nuanced metaphor that expands in the general psyche of the story and its characters.

On the good side, when a scene wanted to create tension in its environment and in its characters it really did so. The performances stayed true to the explorative psychological turmoil of the characters. All in all, there were equal aspects in which the film went right and wrong, however this is exactly what makes it not a well-balanced film.

LE VOURDALAK (The Vourdalak) poses as the debut full lenght feature film of newcommer French director Adrien Beau. I was lucky enough to catch this film on the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. From its very first shot LE VOURDALAK feels like a film made between the late 60s and early 70s somewhere between Central and Eastern Europe. It combines the atmosphere of those regions and times perfectly, managing to transcend the viewer in a wondrous place in the woods, constantly evoking the idea that something evil lurks there.

LE VOURDALAK explores the idea/legend of the vampire with a much more traditional, unique approach in comparison with the many vampire movies that we've been used to in the past years. Drawing his essence from Tolstoy's classic gothic novella, "The Family of the Vourdalak", Adrien Beau crafts a unique take on the vampire legend with samples of practical effects, performative acting, experimental montage and ordinary horror musical elements.

In its core, the film offers a daring, enchanting, tragic horror tale that, at times, is caught between the realisation of its classic background tale and the exaggeration of its daring fresh approach. Meaning that, yes, the story is based on a classic legend, in which Beau paints with his own gothic imagination, that strays from its horrific nature and leans more on the dramatic aspect of a tragic story.

MONSTER offers yet another perspective on complex characters that stand in the middle of moral, personal, sentimental dilemmas and dead-ends. Much like SHOPLIFTERS, Kore-eda managed to create another complex and necessary story with more than one complex and necessary characters. Kore-eda crafted a tragic tale that centers in two chidren and the people around them.

The movie sheds light into the more extreme social issues, that a kid could face in today's society and how it would possibly handle them being a little kid with nothing more to follow than its heart and feelings. By the end of the movie the viewer has experienced a glimpse of mystery, covered with a much bigger amount of social drama that leaves them with a bittersweet feeling of a rather sad, but sweet in its core, tale.

The social-commentary that Kore-eda offers with this film definitely leaves a mark and, moreover, twists the knife in all of those today's societies in which they prefer to pretend that its cracks can be covered by fake "socionormally" behavior and never discuss the real issues. Most importantly, it shows what happens to a world where kids are not met with the humane empathy and acceptance - two things they so righteously deserve to be treated with - of the "grown-ups".