Will New York Greek Film Expo 2024 Be Part of the ‘Weird Wave’?

Here’s a question fans of global cinema can’t help but ask as the New York Greek Film Expo 2024 opens its doors: Just how weird will this particular wave be? To the extent that Greece has dented the popular imagination in recent years, it is through a series of pictures that steer clear of conventional tastes. The Hollywood macher responsible for entertainments as provocative as “Dogtooth” (2009) and as puerile as “Poor Things” (2023), Yorgos Lanthimos, is only the tip of this particular iceberg. There are a number of contemporary Greek directors whose visions are similarly skewed, and some of them have crafted stellar pictures, including Athina Rachel Tsnagiri’s “Chevalier” (2015) and Christos Nikou’s “Apples” (2022).Sociologists can weigh in on the factors accounting for the po-faced absurdism typifying the more outre movies coming from the birthplace of democracy: The economic crisis of 2009 undoubtedly fed the muses; so, too, does a disillusion with politics-as-usual. Socratic skepticism is nothing if not eternal. The Expo has been organized by the Hellenic Film Society USA, an Astoria-based organization that operates on the belief that “Greek cinema should be part of the American cultural landscape.” This year the program includes nine features, one short, and 13 opportunities to attend screenings at three different venues: Manhattan’s Village East Cinema, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, and the Barrymore Film Center at not-so-distant Fort Lee, New Jersey.Trailers tell us only so much about movies, but the most difficult picture featured during this year’s Expo may be Eva Nathena’s “Fonissa.” Based on the 1903 novella by Alexandros Papadiamantis, Ms. Nathena’s picture focuses on a female murderess — the literal translation of the Greek word “fonissa” — who takes drastic measures to ensure that future generations of women will not have to suffer her fate in a patriarchal culture. Early reports extol the film’s righteous brutality and cinematic bravura. Greece has submitted “Fonissa” to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration as Best International Feature Film for 2024. Director Haris Vafeiadis’s debut feature, “Little Things That Went Wrong,” can’t be lumped under the rubric of Greek Weird Wave, though it is a discomfitingly bleak comedy. The picture concerns itself with two fathers, one poor-and-struggling and the other wealthy-and-struggling. Thanos Tokakis in ‘Little Things That Went Wrong.’ Via Out of The Box FilmsFanis (Thanos Tokakis) is a reality TV has-been whose current gig is posing as a warrior on the streets of Athens for the stray tourist photo-op. Estranged from his 13-year old daughter and at his wit’s end, Fanis has a surefire tip about the numbers coming up in the next lottery. His informant? The almighty.Pavlos (Mihalis Siriopoulos) is a tightly wound executive who is in between jobs. He lives in a sleek, modernist home with a beautiful wife who drinks too much (Christina Cheila-Fameli) and a young son who doesn’t get out enough (Alexandros Karamouzis). Through a circumstance that won’t be spoiled here, Pavlos and Fanis enter into a business proposition that puts each man at odds with their families, if not necessarily with their consciences.“Little Things That Went Wrong” is Mr. Vafeiadis’s first feature and it’s a curious, somewhat unformed affair characterized by lollygagging rhythms and an asymmetrical structure. Within its connect-the-dots parameters, he does contrive some sharp set pieces — Fanis breaking into his ex-wife’s flat being one of them — and is helped by the actors, especially Mr. Tokakis and, in a brief but memorable turn as a licentious former classmate, Zoe Nalbanti.Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal” (2023) is a picture that comes bearing considerable honors. Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Spain, and Canada: What international film festival hasn’t feted this pensive slice-of-life with huzzahs and awards? Given how thoroughly Ms. Exarchou’s film punctures the illusions fostered by the tourist trade, you’d think festival jet-setters might be inclined to stay home once in a while.Kaila (Dimitra Vlagopoulou in a staggering performance) is one of a cadre of entertainers plying their trade in the Greek resort circuit. She sings and dances and, let’s face it, has been around the block: Kaila is nearing 40, though her psyche is less limber than her body. The suppleness of Ms. Vlagopoulou’s physique is in marked contrast with the melancholy cast of her eyes, which place Kaila somewhere between Bette Davis and an El Greco madonna — that is to say, between hard-won authority and soulful dissuasion.“Animal” isn’t an easy film, devoted as it is to the harms the body can accrue through constant physical strain and a concomitant existential fatigue. Notwithstanding the camaraderie between herself and the other entertainers, Kaila finds herself increasingly despondent and makes bad decisions about men, money, and her body. The film culminates at a karaoke bar in which our heroine, blotto and no less numb because of it, runs through an emotion-laden version of the Euro-hit “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie.” She essays the song as if it were a curse. It’s a devastating denouement to a film that doesn’t stint on its own kind of devastation, and serves as a highlight to this year’s Greek Film Expo.

Will New York Greek Film Expo 2024 Be Part of the ‘Weird Wave’?

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