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Dark (2017)
Solid show, unique take on time travel, ending could have been better.
There's been countless reviews praising the show, rightly so as it is very well made and if you are capable of watching challenging stuff, it's definitely worth a shot.
I'll focus on the ending:
When Martha and Jonas appear to stop the car accident, I thought they were going to be the cause for the crash. Obviously this was intentional by the show's creators so as to build suspense but they didn't follow through with it. In my opinion, this was a wasted opportunity and they should have shot two endings. The first one as they already did, the happy/free will ending. The second one, the sad/deterministic ending in which they do cause the accident, thus creating a perfect loop and proving that the knot couldn't be undone.
The tricky part would have been how to combine both endings but since it was on Netflix, a solution was possible. Have two different versions of the episode that streamed randomly so half the viewers watched the free will ending and half the deterministic one. Think of the buzz and chaos it would have created when it dropped. It would fit the show much better (free will, shroedinger cat etc.). It would get some flak as it would be a kind of cop out by not committing to either one but I think it would have been worth it and be remembered as revolutionary.
Apontes (1996)
Good coming of age film.
There are very few good Greek films, this is one of them.
It doesn't have the best directing or acting but they are good enough to not distract from the film's powerful core, friendship as time goes by.
Must watch for Greek speakers, solid pick for cinephiles.
Petrina hronia (1985)
Decent for a Greek film, ignorable otherwise.
The civil war and the subsequent vanquishing of communists and in general anyone who opposed the capitalist state of things is a crucial but sensitive subject for modern Greece, hence why its hardly ever depicted in film.
The film tries to be neutral, one on hand that makes sense because it's hard as a filmmaker to express a strong opinion in such a controversial subject whilst trying to make money out of this profession, especially if you're gonna side with the losers. On the other hand however, that takes the essence out of the film. The script is simple and bland, the acting performances aren't special, the scene takes are below average (overly dark).
In my opinion, it would have been a lot better if this film was compressed into half its duration with a quick pace. The musical theme was nice. In the cesspit that is Greek cinema with infinite garbage comedies, this film stands out as watchable. If you are a cinephile it doesn't offer something worthwhile, especially if you are not knowledgeable or interested in modern Greek history, forget it.
Barça Dreams (2015)
Decent FC Barcelona documentary.
It's got good production value, nicely edited, high profile interviews, easy to follow narrative etc.
If you are a newer/casual football fan, I recommend it. You'll learn interesting stuff about the club and football in general.
If you are a more dedicated/hardcore Barcelona fan, you'll know most of the stuff but it's still appealing to see the interviews, highlights of the club's history etc.
If you are a hardcore football fan but not support Barcelona, it's a tossup whether you'll enjoy it. You'll probably know some of the stuff and you might get annoyed by some of the expected biased narrative. For example, the way the highly controversial Di Stefano affair is handled, claims of systemic bias against Barcelona with little to no analysis, over the top mocking of Mourinho's R.Madrid, ignoring/glossing over dark moments and periods of the club, ignoring vital figures of the club's modern success like Puyol, D.Alves, Busquets.
All in all, it's a decent effort that gains extra value by the fact that there are barely any high production football documentaries despite football being MASSIVELY popular worldwide.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
My interpretation
Just watched the film, haven't read any analyses or comments and although I'm Greek, I couldn't say more than one sentence about the Iphigenia play. I think there are plenty of deeper meanings, here's my take.
The film is like a mirror of opposites. Before the film, father screws up, kills part of the teenager's family and ruins that family. During the film, the boy forces the father to ruin his own family this time.
The obvious question is how would that happen, well it can't under any normal circumstances, hence the supernatural element, the curse just is, there is no explanation and it was clear from early on there could be no explanation since the symptoms made no sense for a single person, let alone two.
There are many aspects of the film where this mirror of opposites applies but it doesn't get any clearer than the scene where he bites the father's arm and then instantly bites his own arm. And immediately after that, it's like one step before breaking the 4th wall, the boy asks do you understand and repeats three times, it's a metaphor, it's metaphorical, it's symbolic.
There are aspects of justice and revenge but I think the theme that suits better is the hubris-nemesis combination.
I think he's trying to be nice to the boy cause of guilt, he understands he has made something terrible but he's not willing to go all the way. He keeps it hidden plus the whole society system works in his favor. And he refuses to "replace" the boy's father despite the effort the boy and his mother have made for him. He isn't afraid of negative consequences since under normal circumstances the boy not only can't do anything to him but he wouldn't even be able to know of the doctor's mistake in the first place.
The cold world is Lanthimos' bread and butter but besides that, for a reasoning coherent with the film itself, I think it serves the purpose of separating it from real life. If you had normal stuff, the supernatural curse would feel super weird and out of place. Instead, you start normal and slowly but steadily get acclimatized to weirdness. And by the time the bomb drops with the boy revealing him the crazy curse, you already have your suspicions and you are more open to it.
The fries scene, in the opening one as soon as the boy says he saves them for last, the father says he does that too so there's the mirror aspect again. Additionally, starting and finishing a film with the same or similar scene is a common theme in films and life in general (ouroboros in the west, wheel of time in the east etc). My view on the connection between the two scenes is in the starting one, the father has killed someone and ruined the boy's family but the boy is eating as if nothing wrong or significant has happened. In the last one, the boy has forced the father to ruin his own family and it's now the daughter that's eating as if everything's normal.
Regarding the relationship between the boy and the daughter, I'll go back to the mirroring. On one side you've got the father trying out of guilt to be good towards the boy and the mother but as soon as it's about to go the final step, he backs off (visit to their house). On the opposite side, you've got the boy trying out of guilt to be good towards the father's family but as soon as it's about to go the final step with the daughter he backs off (scene in daughter's room). The similarities are uncanny. The mother irrationally loves the doctor despite the damage he's done to her family. The daughter irrationally loves the boy despite the damage he's doing to her family.
I think the boy's mother importance is limited to those two things (proving the father is unwilling to hurt his life to help the boy's life and as an opposite to the daughter), hence why the small part.
Regarding Martin lying to Anna about Steven flirting with his mom, it's about ruining the family and there's still the mirroring aspect as far as lying in general. There's a ton of lying, the father lies all the time and the boy does the same.
The hand idolization in my opinion is a metaphor to society's view on doctors. It's the best job, they are flawless, never making mistakes etc. And that's also prevalent early in the film elsewhere, in the speech scene, he changes the classic saying "the operation was successful, but the patient died" and there's tragic irony in that as it's a common secret a lot operations fail due to human errors, yet doctors are never held accountable for that.
And there's opposite mirroring here too. On one side the hopelessness of going against doctors and on the other side what happens in the film, where it's obvious the two children are very sick, yet all the doctors insist they are fine or ignore them.
Finally, regarding the the body hair, yet again mirroring. Initially, it looks like they are going to be different but they stand opposite to each other and find out there is little difference.
Mythos (1985)
Somewhat bizarre but worthwhile.
The quick sum up of this is lectures by Joseph Campbell on mythology edited together in a way that creates a narrative that is easier to follow.
In its entirety the duration is ~14 hours so there is a lot of stuff that gets analysed. The spectrum of the subjects covered is quite wide, from basic history to interpretations of authors like Joyce and Thomas Mann.
There's a lot of weird and vague stuff being talked about and personally I lean more towards the scientific method and facts but still, I found it very interesting for two reasons. Firstly, a lot of the topics getting discussed are extremely rarely talked about anywhere. Prehistoric myths, comparing a large variety of mythologies and religions, alchemy, mysticism eastern philosophy. These topics are somewhat taboo in the western world and you have to really go out of your way to learn about them as it's almost certain you'll have to resort to books which are a lot harder to consume than a documentary.
Secondly, Joseph Campbell who was definitely a very unique and gifted person. Knowledgeable and more importantly very good at grabbing your attention and transmitting his thoughts on some of the toughest subjects to talk about.
If anything of the above peaked your interest, give it a shot and see whether you like it or not. You can also research more on who Campbell was and what this series includes to help make your decision.
This Is Not a Coup (2016)
Just another day in the EU
Politics is a subject I spend very little time on, even when it's about my own country, Greece. Despite that, I found this documentary interesting and well done.
It deals with the European Union's (EU) and European Central Bank's (ECB) role in the economic crises of Italy, Ireland, Cyprus and Greece. It will probably appeal to people related to those countries or people generally interested in European politics and economics.
Narration is in Greek, it has a good production value and features interviews with prominent people.
My main criticism would be that while it does a good job narrating the details of how things happened, it doesn't concern itself with the bigger picture. Why are these things happening ? Obviously that's more speculative and editorial in nature, but I think it would be useful to know the creator's views on the reasons behind these events.
The Hurt Business (2016)
Suitable mostly for people interested in MMA
Pros: 1) High level MMA figures involved 2) Decent production value 3) Variety, old to new MMA, amateur to top tier
Cons: 1) Pro UFC and almost exclusively about America 2) Biased against Japan. Completely ignores their significant role in the rise of MMA and a ridiculous characterization of legendary Japanese PRIDE and K-1 promotions as "infamous" 3) Unnecessary small segment with extreme injuries. MMA is a brutal sport but those kind of bone fractures and cuts are extremely rare 4) A bit dated. Can't fault the creators too much about it because films take 1-2 years to be released but the footage ends roughly two years ago which in the world of MMA is a lot 5) Somewhat too ambitious trying to cover the history, the current state, various personal story lines and more fringe topics like injuries
My recommendations 1) Casual person with zero relation to combat sports: Probably won't like it 2) Casual person with some relation to combat sports (someone who's trained one of the disciplines, someone who watches a bit of MMA or boxing): Worth a shot 3) MMA fan who's watched big events for some years: Will probably enjoy it as it's a quick tour through history and explores less talked aspects of MMA like training, mentality, injuries etc. 4) Hardcore fan who has watched many events for many years: Worth a watch. A lot of what is shown will already be known but there are a few interesting segments of important MMA figures like Gary Goodridge.
State of Play (2013)
Interesting eSports documentary.
Being a huge fan of eSports I enjoyed this thoroughly and thus gave it a 10 rating. If you have followed the competitive scene of Starcraft Brood War or SC2 you will also probably enjoy it.
It follows the story of three players on different levels of competition in the Korean scene of Starcraft around 2011-2012. First player is the superstar, second is a semi-professional and the third an amateur.
The film has a professional feel and it does a very good job showing how important the game was in Korean culture and how it affected the lives of the youth involved with it.
It doesn't have the best pacing but that's to be expected since it realistically shows how cut throat the competition was.
In my opinion it's not for everyone and I'd recommend it to people who are interested in Starcraft, eSports or Korean culture.
Sommarens tolv månader (1988)
Interesting idea, decent movie.
Found out about this movie in some kind of list online, was always interested in non Hollywood movies, so I watched it. Audio/Video quality of it was far from great since it must have been from VHS with Swedish subs burnt on.
The film itself is worth watching, not only for sci-fi enthusiasts as it mostly explores the psychological aspects on the characters.
The idea of a weird experiment has been made many times but this specific one, an experiment on weather and how it affects people, is pretty unique.
It is a pretty low budget movie so don't expect special effects etc. but the creators have done a good job about it and it looks pretty realistic.
Acting, dialogue and the script are the movie's biggest strengths. In my opinion the negatives are the duration being a bit longer than it should have been and while the start and end of the film are nice, it is a bit monotonous around the middle though in a way that serves a purpose.
If you don't have a problem watching non English speaking films and the subject of the movie intrigues you, I recommend it.