Euro 2012: Greek film, Alps

Entry #9 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the single Greek film entry Alps. Syllas Tzoumerkas’ Homeland, the primary film entry for Greece, was not available. Therefore, Alps will be used for both the first and third group games.

Alps (2011, Giorgos Lanthimos)



The story in Alps revolves around a few characters who take on the persona of a deceased person in order to console grieving family members. For example, this unorthodox healing process could mean playing the role of a relative’s deceased daughter. This tactic produces some humor to begin with but once a viewer is comfortable with the material, then one can look beyond the humor and observe the human behavior on display. In this regard, the film shows that all humans share a certain bond when it comes to loss and eventually healing.

Alps features far more deadpan humor and less of the strangeness that might have put some people off Lanthimos’ Dogtooth. That is not to say that Alps is without its quirky dark humor but the material is presented in a much more accessible manner than Dogtooth. The material appears light on surface but once the film is over, the darker and heavier themes slowly sink in.

Greek Cinema

Recent Greek Cinema by way of Lanthimos & Tsangari

Three different Greek films by Giorgos Lanthimos & Athina Rachel Tsangari but linked together by control, communication and human behavior:

Dogtooth (2009, Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos)
ATTENBERG (2010, Greece, Athina Rachel Tsangari)
Alps (2011, Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos)

Control & Communication

In Dogtooth the father is the clear head of the family.

He presides over every family decision including his family’s entertainment and even who his son can sleep with -- the father brings a woman to the house so that his son can have scheduled sexual intercourse. The lines of communication are just one way and the parent-child relationship is a closed one where the children are not free to have an open honest conversation. The children are also shut off in the house with no option to go out into the world.

The lines of communication are more open in ATTENBERG where the daughter is free to ask her father about sexual questions, such as if the father imagines his daughter naked.

The daughter also has freedom to roam the streets with her friend and wander about town on her own.

Alps also features a girl having freedom to come home and go out as she pleases. The daughter has a decent relationship with her father but there are some things she cannot ask. In a conversation with her father, the daughter equates herself with her mother and right in the next instance, puts her hand in between her father’s legs, only to be duly slapped in return.

The daughter imagines herself to be like her mother so figures she has the right to reach for her father’s parts. However, she could have simply asked her father a question like the daughter does in ATTENBERG but Alps does not feature complete open and honest communication. There is still a level of control that is exerted over all the characters and a line of authority that is clearly visible. The authority may no longer be present in the house but it exists in the workplace.

Human Behavior

Dogtooth is a twisted human case study of the butterfly effect as the film shows how a single element introduced in a tightly controlled environment can cause ripples of change powerful enough to turn things on their head. Examination of the human behavior also manages to illustrate that rigidly controlled parenting will harm children’s development and prevent children from growing into fully functional adults. The young adults in Dogtooth have only aged in terms of their bodily growth but they have the mental maturity of young kids as shown by their inquisitive questioning and experimentation with sex and violence.

The title of ATTENBERG is inspired by David Attenborough’s BBC nature series about animal behavior and the film naturally features ample dosage of animal sounds. However, the animal instincts parallel the human behavior shown by the characters in the film with regards to how the characters mate, seek partners, entertain themselves and carry out well choreographed dance rituals.

In Alps, characters seek to console those who have lost a loved one by taking on the persona of the character’s lost relative. The film shows that all humans share a certain bond when it comes to loss and eventually healing.

Essentially, all three films can be classified as coming of age tales with a difference. While most coming of age films show characters attaining maturity in their mid teens, the three Greek films contain characters who come of age as young adults. The delayed maturity has more to do with the characters isolation and the way they are raised by their fathers -- there is a mother shown in Dogtooth but she comes across as quiet and subdued while a mother is absent in the other films.

What of Greece?

There are no direct political references in any of the films yet some depictions can be inferred. Dogtooth is clearly a reference about authoritative rule and a closed off society. The characters live in a house surrounded by large walls which shuts off the outside world.

This could represent a Greece prior to its entry into the larger economic and financial European union.

ATTENBERG appears to be during a time when Greece either has joined or is on the verge of financially joining the European union. The film takes place in an isolated small town devoid of jobs. However, there is an optimistic tone in the air which would signal towards a hopeful future.

Alps appears to take place in a time when Greece is comfortable with the rest of the world. Characters constantly sprinkle American pop references in their conversations, especially regards to Hollywood films, while another character talks about Switzerland and the Alps mountains. Nothing in the film suggests isolation and boundaries but presents a nation which is at harmonious union with Europe and the World as a whole.

Grappling for familiarity

Dogtooth is certainly unique but one can recognize touches of Lars von Trier and Ulrich Seidl with regards to the absurd and human behavior. The story goes from dark humour to shock in an instant with its depiction of family abuse and incest. The film is certainly hard to like but it is equally difficult to ignore this work because there is plenty to chew in the film.

ATTENBERG is warm, tender and certainly more accessible than Dogtooth even though ATTENBERG starts off with a kiss between two women and features a lot of talk about sex.

Alps is certainly more accessible than Lanthimos’ previous film but it is still a bit cold when compared to ATTENBERG. Alps minimizes the strangeness that would have put people off Dogtooth and features more deadpan/dark humor. In this regard, Alps is similar in look and feel to The Death of Mister Lazarescu. However, the humor in The Death of Mister Lazarescu is smartly integrated in the film without drawing attention to itself. Whereas Alps is trying too hard to garner laughs. Certain scenarios and dialogues have no purpose in the film and only seem to exist to sell the absurd humor style.

Comments

Lanthimos and Tsangari would want their films to be treated differently but the common themes related to parental control, communication and behavior link the films. Plus, the two directors have tiny imprints in the others work. Lanthimos is a producer and actor in ATTENBERG while Tsangari has a producer tag on both Lanthimos’ features.

Here is a subjective ranking of the films:

ATTENBERG
Dogtooth
Alps

I would have rated Alps higher had I not seen some of the new Romanian films by Cristi Puiu and Corneliu Porumboiu. These Romanian films show how to properly depict a mix of deadpan and dark humor while Alps just seems to be trying to force its material through a template that is not suited for the characters. Also, arriving at Alps after having navigated Dogtooth and ATTENBERG feels like a letdown. Had my Greek journey started with Alps, then I could have found it far more engaging.

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CIFF 2011 -- All about the Mavericks

Calgary International Film Festival 2011

Every year I joyfully look forward to the 10 day cinematic adventure that is the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF). Normally, I have my festival specific routines and relish tweaking my schedule as the festival goes on, adding in extra films or altering my plan to get some rest. However, this year my schedule for the opening weekend was decided well in advance because I was invited to be on the three person jury to judge the Mavericks competition award. The Mavericks competition featured eight films from first time directors. The goal was to watch all eight films in the cinema along with the audience during the opening weekend and then deliberate to come up with the award. As per the film schedule, I had two options to see all eight films:

1) 2-3-3: Start off with two films on Friday and then take in three each on Saturday or Sunday.

2) 3-3-2: Three on the opening day and end the weekend with two.

I opted for the second option and added two more films for personal viewing, making the format a much more soccer friendly 4-4-2. This format also allowed me to give my full attention to the Mavericks films.

The eight Mavericks films seen in order of viewing:

Maria, my Love (2011, USA, Jasmine McGlade Chazelle)
Heat Wave (2011, France, Jean-Jacques Jauffret)
The Sacrament of Life (2008, USA, Joseph Sorrentino)
Flowers of Evil (2010, France, David Dusa)
Radio Free Albemuth (2010, USA, John Alan Simon)
Old Goats (2010, USA, Taylor Guterson)
The Whisperer in the Darkness (2011, USA, Sean Branney)
Sunflower Hour (2011, Canada, Aaron Houston)

All the eight films are quite wonderful and different from each other which made it fascinating to judge the competition. The eight films are also clearly a labor of love by the filmmakers and it was a great experience to hear the stories about how some of these films saw the light of day. I had the pleasure to listen to Jasmine McGlade Chazelle, Joseph Sorrentino, Sean Branney and John Alan Simon talk about their films and had a very nice chat with Joseph Sorrentino. These films highlight the importance of film festivals in helping to showcase talented filmmakers whose works would otherwise be lost in the overpowering Hollywood dominated North American cinemas. I relished viewing all these films and hope they get the larger audience they deserve.

In the end, we chose Flowers of Evil as the winner of the Mavericks award.

Here is our jury statement:

Flowers of Evil is a bold, innovative film brimming with fresh new ideas. David Dusa has crafted a unique film that smartly integrates social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube within the film’s visual language while maintaining the story’s flow. Dusa’s film contains living breathing three dimensional characters who draw the audience into their lives thereby creating an emotional connection with the characters lives in Paris and a revolution taking place in a far off land.

In addition, Flowers of Evil also features a grooving soundtrack and makes great use of Shantel’s Disko Boy song.

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The other two films that I saw on the opening weekend were Kill List and Alps.

Kill List (2011, UK, Ben Wheatley)

Ben Wheatley’s film packs quite a powerful punch and increases the tension and violence as it races along at a riveting pace. One remarkable aspect of the film is that it keeps certain elements off the screen thereby allowing the audience to fill in their own version of certain events related to the characters background story and even to the cult group. The violent scenes cause plenty of discomfort although the film’s most shocking scene won’t seem as a surprize to those who saw a certain 2010 film.

Alps (2011, Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos)

Lanthimos’ follow up to Dogtooth features far more deadpan humor and less of the strangeness that might have put some people off Dogtooth. That is not to say that ALPS is without its quirky dark humor but it is presented in a much more accessible manner than Dogtooth. The material that is presented in ALPS only seems much more darker and sinister when one walks away after seeing the film and thinks about the characters and their lives.

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Some quick comments on other films that showed at the festival:

Guilt (2011, Canada, Marc Bisaillon)

This excellent Canadian film is based on a true story and raises some worthy moral questions about guilt/punishment. There is some humor as well regarding how the champ jock is given preferential treatment but the humor is subtle and does not draw attention to itself.

In Heaven, Underground (2011, Germany, Britta Wauer)

The story about how the Weissensee Jewish cemetery survived the Nazi era and continued to operate for more than a century is certainly extraordinary. Surprisingly, this is a very light tender film about the heavy topic of death and features many poetic and contemplative moments.

Target (2011, Russia, Alexander Zeldovich)

Like all good sci-fi films Target uses a single topic, elixir of youth in the film’s case, to explore larger issues about human behavior and morality in society. Plus, the film uses current trends of China’s growth to extrapolate a future where the political power balance is altered. One forgets the sci-fi element 30 minutes into the film after which the story unfolds like an epic Russian novel, carefully highlighting the disintegration of the principal characters. The ending shot certainly evokes Tarkovskiy’s Solaris as do certain other aspects in the film.

Journey of a Dream (2011, Canada co-production, Shenpenn Khymsar)

This worthy documentary is a fascinating mix of a memoir, a road journey, a political film about Tibet's struggle of independence and a look at the underground music scene in Darjeeling. Each part contains many engaging aspects which are nicely tied together in the end when the filmmaker draws a line between his Buddhist beliefs and love of metal music.

Le Quattro Volte: I wrote about this film previously and it is still a front-runner for one of my favourite films of the year.

George the Hedgehog (2011, Poland, Wojtek Wawszczyk, Jakub Tarkowski, Tomasz Leśniak)

And now for something completely different...George the Hedgehog is a Polish animated film that is a blend of political and social satire packed with plenty of sexual innuendo and some nudity to boot. The film is surprizingly liberal with its sexual depiction and is not afraid to offend with its crudeness and racial jokes. George the Hedgehog also smartly includes the impact that online videos can have in swaying public opinion and starting a revolution of sorts.

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The ones that got away

The opening weekend certainly exhausted me and that meant I had to give away some of my film tickets over the next few days just to recover. So I missed seeing Take Shelter, Monsieur Lazhar, The Skin I Live In and The Bengali Detective. On top of that, family commitments meant that I missed the closing gala film Take That Waltz along with three of my must-see picks for the festival -- Le Havre, El Bulli and The Salt of Life. Still, CIFF 2011 was another great festival experience highlighted by the outstanding Mavericks competition.

Oh Canadian weather

CIFF has always taken place place in the final week of September and usually spilled over into the first few days of October. As a result, my memories of the fall season have always been associated with CIFF because my waiting in line for films has gone hand in hand with a chill tinged air. However, remarkably last year the weather during the first week of the festival was summer like thereby making the walks in between the cinemas pleasant and fun. Incredibly, this time around the first weekend of the festival (Sept 23 - 25) featured temperatures in the range of 29-30 deg C thereby meaning some of the warmest summer weather of the year took place in the fall. If this summer like weather occurs during the festival next year, then it will certainly be further proof of the changing weather pattern.

Eastern Europe 3, Greece 2

Buick Riviera (2008, Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)

Goran Rusinovic’s brilliant film illustrates how hatred can persist through generations and lay dormant until one day it is unleashed into a full fledged war. On the surface, the film appears to be about two strangers whose chance encounter leads to volatile consequences but it is clear that the film is about more than just two people. The two characters give us one example of how hatred can suddenly flare out of a seemingly harmless situation and result in bloody revenge. In this regard, the film can explain why fighting broke out in the former Yugoslavia or why other cultures/tribes are in a race to destroy each other. The simple answer can be that people just don’t like each other. But why? Why don’t people like each other? Query this question and often the answers are the simplest things. An unreturned smile can immediately label someone as an enemy. And sometimes, ofcourse, a nice smile can cause distrust. Add all these little things up and you build a catalogue of distrust and hatred, eventually leading to horrific consequences.

Buick Riviera starts off in the snowy American mid-west. After Hasan’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he is fortunate to get a lift from Vuko. The two exchange jokes and things are quite pleasant especially after they discover they are both from the same land. But Vuko’s constants remarks about Muslim behavior anger Hasan and he counters about Vuko’s Serb identity. Immediately, hatred and distrust flare up. Hasan heads home and things appear to have ended. But Vuko shows up at Hasan’s door, determined to buy Hasan’s beloved broken car (the Buick Riviera). The car becomes a ground for asserting each other’s control over the other -- Hasan needs to preserve his car while Vuko wants it at all costs. Watching the duo’s confrontation with confusion is Hasan’s American wife, Angela, who does not understand what is going on. Still, her character is essential because she serves as a moderator who oversees a critical scene in Hasan’s and Vuko’s battle at the dinner table. The camera work is brilliant in this dinner table scene where Angela is seated at the head of the table, equidistant from Hasan and Vuko who are across from each other. However, the camera’s perspective is altered in moments to make it like look that Angela is siding with Vuko in some debates. In this regards, the camera perspective portrays Hasan’s inner feelings of how he feels he is on the verge of losing everything. Memories of bloodshed in his former land come to Hasan’s mind and he is determined to fight back harder.

A fascinating film and one of the year’s best!

Link: Sarajevo 2008 write-up.

Border (2009, Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)

A dialogue-less picture which lets the powerful images speak for themselves. The film shows that if people can’t trust an animal from the other side of the border, then how can they ever get along with humans from across the border. At the film’s start, a buffalo is found injured near the border. The people from across the border tend to the buffalo and bring it over on their side. However, the village people and even the farm animals treat the buffalo with suspicion. Seasons pass and the buffalo appears to be assimilated with the people’s daily activities. Still when something does go wrong, it is the buffalo that is blamed.

The buffalo ends up being a symbol of a refugee, a stranger who finds himself in a different community and tries to adapt. A few subtle images highlight the strains of the border on everyday life and the distrust that exists of those on the other side. Even the buffalo appears to feel the strain of that border and yearns to break free of the human created border.

The director has called the film a blend of documentary and “live-action film” but the film’s keen observances of everyday life erase the boundary between documentary and fiction. This film does not feel like scripted cinema at all but is a rich work where an animal is used to expose humanity's many faults, especially intolerance of a stranger.

Link: Official website

Delta (2008, Hungary, Kornél Mundruczó)

A special thanks is given to Béla Tarr at the start of Kornél Mundruczó’s Delta. It is easy to see why that is the case because Delta incorporates a few touches from Tarr’s masterpiece Satantango and The Outsider. While Tarr’s films are in black and white, Delta is in color and this sets the film’s mood and atmosphere apart from Tarr’s work. Also, there are some scenes in Delta that evoke Lisandro Alonso’s Los Muertos and Theo Angelopoulos’ The Weeping Meadow. Overall, Delta is a visually sharp film and a real cinematic treat.

Dogtooth (2009, Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos)
Original title: Kynodontas

This Un Certain Regard winner is part Lars von Trier, part Ulrich Seidl with a touch of the absurd. The story goes from dark humour to shock in an instant with its depiction of family abuse and incest. The film may be hard to like but it is equally difficult to ignore this work. There is plenty to chew on in this film, especially regarding the consequences of a controlled environment that the father imposes on his family. The father creates a closed environment where he controls every aspect of the household from what the children see on tv to what they learn. However, his closely guarded world is threatened when the introduction of an outside element into the house changes the equation drastically. In essence, the film forms a twisted case study of the butterfly effect.

Strella (2009, Greece, Panos H. Koutras)

After Yiorgos is released from prison, he encounters Strella, a transvestite, in a hotel. The two sleep with each other but complications arise after their encounter. What follows has roots in Greek mythology but the film takes things to another extreme by adding a wicked twist. It is hard to talk about the film without giving the twist away but without the twist, there is really nothing to talk about. Still, the film manages to pack an emotional punch.

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Trailer for Dogtooth