The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Minore”: Thoroughly Greek and Outrageous B Horror-Comedy Film

The Port of Piraeus has a problem. There are a series of minor earthquakes and citizens disappear. Mists roll in. An island appears in the middle of the harbour. Many walk-like zombies toward the island. Gooified bodies begin to appear many missing limbs.

Meanwhile in Gotham City, ooops wrong movie but similar vibe, the merry life continues at a taverna with traditional Rebetiko music, drinking and dancing until the creatures attack it causing a pile of severed limbs and intestines to pile up.

And there is much traditional Greek music peppered throughout “Minore” but there is also heavy metal. There is also a plethora of many odd but striking characters including a yia yia (Efi Papatheodorou) as you have never seen before! There is Vikingesque body builder with a love of swords and modern automatic weapons. There is a mysterious elder bouzouki player Nikodimos (Meletis Georgiadis), a raunchy taxi driver, Greek gangsters, icon painter, mama’s boys, ancient Greeks, cheapskate priests, obsessive papu tavli players and many others.

Nikodimos warns children of the great devourer are passing through cracks to prepare a feast for him. Could it be typically Greek the monsters look like octopi! And strange that the showdown with these creatures and big mama al la “Alien” occurs in and on the grounds of a Greek Orthodox church and the weapon of greatest effective is amplified bouzoki music! And what a final battle it is with heads and limbs severed, faces ripped off and guns blasting and swords chopping off tentacles. And the monsters look far more realistic than a 1964 B horror movie. Were you ever remotely frightened by the blob in “The Blob”?

Enough horror here to keep you from that popcorn run yet enough humour for a few guffaws and priests, psychiatrists and Even Golden Dawn are not free from some of that classic Greek cinema jobbing you will find in many 60’s Greek films.

Looking for a jovial night out this Greek B comedy-horror movie is well worth it. So Greek even if you can’t clue in on this you really won’t miss much.

Half in Greek and half in English and when Greek there are subtitles.

This film screens in Toronto and go to  https://gifft.ca for further details.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 88/100. 

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agy3j21q3sY

Director is Konstantinos Koutsoliotas.

RKS Literature: The Danger of Over Protectiveness of Children (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

There were other patients to see: an American girl of fifteen who had been brought up on the basis that childhood was intended to be all fun-his visit was provoked by the fact that she just hacked off all her hair with nail scissors. There was nothing much to be done for her-a family history of neurosis and nothing stable in her past to build on. The father, normal and conscientious himself, had tried to protect a nervous brood from life’s troubles and had succeeded merely in preventing them from developing powers of adjustment to life’s inevitable surprises.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender is the Night”, 1934.

RKS 2024 Film: “Only the River Flows”: A Murder Investigation Takes Centre Stage

If you are an aficionado of murder mysteries you will enjoy the film. A twist of clues with no obvious viewer conclusions to be made.

If you enjoy film noir there is almost enough stylistically here to merit slotting the film into that genre.

If you enjoy symbolism in film and subtle political criticism it is in the film.

An elderly woman with the nickname Granny Four is slashed in the neck in 1995 small town China. Her body is at the edge of a river. There are no witnesses to the murder. The only clue is a purse, not belonging to Granny, that contains a cassette tape with music but with a message from Qian Ling to her lover Hong. They are in an “illicit” relationship and the purse at the murder scene is Ling’s. And Ling admits to stumbling upon the deceased Granny but “ran off in terror”.

Then a hairdresser with a criminal record is a possible suspect.

And the obvious suspect, so you think, is The Madman who was adopted by Granny Four.

The local police chief Captain Ma (Hou Tianlai) assigns detective Ma Zhe (Yilong Zhu) to the case. Captain Ma is a ping pong obsessed loyal political cadre looking to boost the “collective morale” of his small force and is being pressured by his superiors for an arrest and he is being watched by the political and bureaucratic machine for a quick resolution.

Ma Zhe, a good cop through and through, doggedly pursues his case not comfortable with a quick arrest to satiate those “in power” who are watching the case.

As the investigation commenced the police force moved their headquarters into an abandoned cinema and they are hard at work “on the stage” investigating the murder. Yes indeed they are being watched by an audience that is pressuring for the happy ending of a quick conviction. All the police officers are also on the stage being pressured by Captain Ma to promptly file their merit applications.

The bureaucrats and party members are seen applauding the brave and diligent Ma Zhe who snags the murderer. Or did he? Could it be the bureaucrats are the winners in the big show. Is justice but a simple political inconvenience?

Very dark cinematography, incessant rain and diametrically opposed characters edge the film toward film noir but perhaps a hot babe and black and white cinematography would have conclusively edged the film into official film noir categorization.

Subtle jabs at the political and bureaucratic cadres in China.

Directed by Wei Shujun.

Theatrical release 1August2024 in Canada.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 90/100.

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Listen to Who’s Talking”:  Yes, Greeks Can Make Romcoms

Looking for something bright, breezy and humorous? Look no further than “Listen to Who’s Talking” a Greek feature film playing at the Greek International Film Festival Tour 1-31October24 in 11 Canadian cities. Buried under the covers or dreamt up by my film weary mind is the concept of mindfulness meditation possibly present in the film.

Fotis is an Athenian life coach whose life is caught up in a boring routine. Work, return home exhausted, eat processed and delivered food, pat the dog and then go to bed, get up, have his kolouria at his coffee shop then head to the office to speak with his clients. Over and over with no girlfriend or friends for that matter.

But there is this voice that speaks to him primarily to rouse him from his dullard existence. The voice can be critical such as “Pizza again. How exciting” or “If you keep eating this crap you’ll develop scurvy.” “Another wasted day.” The voice can be encouraging, “What a babe. Get her telephone number.” “You’ve got to chase her. This is not like applying for a permit at the Ministry.”

After 200 days or ordering koluoria for his breakfast he finally looks up to see a beautiful woman, Chrysanthi, serving him. He is captivated so is she now that he has finally looked at her.  The voice is his life coach advising how to develop his relationship with Chrysanthi. While there is this external voice directing, nagging, and criticizing Fotis, Chrysanthi’s friend Maria is a voice directing her. The voices heard by Fotis and Chrysanthi are comedic even if critical.

There are Fotis’ clients that are oddball one being a priest who slurps down communion wine as to throw it our would be a sin, a bribe taking soccer referee, a volleyball coach obsessed with his female players’ bottoms and a man obsessed with pigeons and mosquitos.

The movie concludes in a classic romcom manner. Good fun.

But this voice Fotis hears? Some external voice?

In mindfulness there is a key factor in mediation practice and that is shutting up the voice in your head that is judging, criticizing and thinking in many different directions. Could this be the voice Fotis hears? I am trained and certified in mindfulness and you think it is easy to shut up that voice. Think again it can take months of training and more than a few can’t master this simplest yet most difficult task.

The film shows in Vancouver and Toronto.

You can see the Greek trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvx_WMsrVAg . The film is in Greek but with English subtitles.

For more information check out https://gifft.ca

RKS 2024 Film Rating 81/100.

The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?

The Greek film “Kapetan Mihalis” is based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel “Freedom or Death” chronicling the struggle of Cretans for independence in their Ottoman occupied Crete in the late 19th century. To transform this epic novel onto the screen requires guts! “Tampering” with a national treasure is risky business. However the filmmakers here have succeeded although what film could ever fully bring to life such a novel?

Kapetan Mihalis (Amilios Heilakis) is the protagonist in the film. He is a fierce Cretan advocating the independence of Crete and it’s joining the Greek nation. He is a driven man not without contradictions. One might refer to him as an obsessive madman while not afraid of baiting and humiliating the Turkish occupiers somewhat skilled at maintaining peace until the time is right to drive out the Turks.  

While a hater of Turkish occupiers he is a blood brother of Nuri Bey (Alexos Sissovitz) a prominent Turkish captain. As children they cut their hands and mingled blood making them blood brothers with an exchange of promises not to hurt each other. He is also tempted by Bey’s Circassian concubine Emine.

Yes there is a memorable battle scene where the Turks and Cretans fight. How memorable is it that the abbot and his monks join in the fight to save the monastery under Turkish attack and shocking about the carving out of his face by the Turkish attackers.

In addition to the anti-Turk momentum of the film there are subplots galore concerning incest, the nature of an uprising, jealousy, life under occupation, hatred, dissipation, drunkenness, loyalty, treachery and so forth. One watches here an epic which is not solely focused on “military matters”.

An excellent film that has broad appeal. It was as faithful to “Freedom and Death” as it could be. RKS 2024 Film Rating 93/100.

Directed by Kostas Haralambous. In Greek with English subtitles. Here is the Greek trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xonR_4ioDLk&t=126s

Check the GIFFT website at  https://gifft.ca to determine in what 11 Canadian cities the film will be playing at in the 1-31October2024 GIFFT festival.

RKS Literature: Can Scars of the Mind Ever Heal? (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“One writes of scars healed, a loose parallel to the pathology of the skin, but there is no such thing in the life of an individual. There are open wounds, shrunk sometimes to the size of a pin-prick but wounds still. The marks of suffering are more comparable to the loss of a finger, or of the sight of an eye. We may not miss them, either, for one minute in a year, but if we should there is nothing to be done by it.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender is the Night”, (1934).

RKS Literature: American Royalty (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“They were an American ducal family without a title-the very name written on a hotel register, signed to an introduction, used in a difficult situation, caused a psychological metamorphosis in people, and in return this change had crystallized her own sense of position. She knew these facts from the English, who had known them for over two hundred years.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender is the Night”, 1934.

RKS 2024 Wine: A Babu Reserva from Portugal’s Tejo Appellation: Another Purchase at Your Own Risk?

I tried the 2018 Babu Reserva and it fared so poorly I used the mercy rule and did not give it a numerical score instead stating, “purchase at your own risk”. I am sure that when RKS Wine speaks with such unflattering remarks a team of blending specialists descended on the winery to fix the situation.

The only way to determine their success is to try a 2021 Babu.

The wine is a blend of Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet. It has been aged in oak barrels for three months.

Aroma: Black cherry, raspberry with some blueberry and a faint hint of milk chocolate.

Palate: Not much fruit has migrated to the palate with but a tad of sour cherry squeaking to the finish line. Tastes like a mass-produced effort. Drinkable but not much more than that.

Personality: I have decent aromatics but am bereft of a quality streak on the palate. I am embarrassed as Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet can make a magical blend but has fallen short here. I really will try to convince the winemakers to change their game plan.

Food Match: That safety valve of dignity expression “a Friday night wine”.

Cellarbility: If you buy no sense in keeping it around.

Price: $16 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 82/100. Wine Enthusiast 90.

(Babu 2021 Reserva, Vinho Regional Tejo, Fuiza & Bright, Portugal, 750 mL, 13.5%).

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Behind the Haystacks”: Reality Trumps the Façade

If you travel through farmland you often see haystacks. They can be domed, square or circular and pleasing to look at, almost artistic. Behind the perfect structure what is hiding?

In “Behind the Haystacks” could it be that the haystack is the public persona and the private person is what hides behind the haystack.

Its time frame is 2015 a time when migrants were storming Greece through Northern Greece and certain islands in the Aegean off the Turkish coast. You’ll hear the radio and the television in several scenes discussing the migrant crisis.

It has been filmed at Lake Dorian with Greece on one side and North Macedonia on the other.

The film begins the way it ends with children running to an outdoor celebration and telling all they have seen two bodies at the edge of Lake Dorian where they were playing.

The film divides itself into three chapters; Stergios the father, Maria the mother and Anastasia the daughter.

Stergios’, (Stathis Stamoulaktos) public persona is a hard-working famer and part time fisherman. But he has in the past cheated on his taxes using manufactured false invoices. He is pinned under a huge debt load.

Maria (Eleni Ouzounido) his wife is a devout church going lady but jealous of those in the church’s volunteer ranks. She lies to the father of the church and to the police to protect her family.

Anastasia (Evgenia Lavda) is a hardworking nurse trainee at a local hospital caught under the thumb of father Stergios and must lie to assert her independence.

In the local patriarchal society Maria jumps to the commands of Stergios and Anastasia is under the vice grip Stergios who on occasion slaps her around.

In the wonderful façade of village life and national existence there are the ugly cross currents of migrants swamping Greece. The majority of the village is suspicious of the migrants as one villager remarks where they come from they are killing each other. Even the village father wants his parishioners not to assist the migrants. Yet on the sly some are assisting the migrants and a few are making very good returns over smuggling migrants over Lake Dorian from North Macedonia into Greece.

There is corruption in the local co-op of grain farmers, migrants are dying trying to cross the lake, lying in the judicial process, setting up an Albanian farmworker for a murder charge let alone a murder being committed.

Perhaps the truest character is Anastasia and her murdered boyfriend Christos and his murder is just but a bit of sordidness behind the haystack.

The director is Asimina Proedrou.

In Greek with English subtitles.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfK_LrAcYpE&t=15s.  

RKS 2024 Film Rating 87/100.

Screens in the The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) in 11 Canadian cities 1-31October2024. For more information https://gifft.ca

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Sgt. Fruit Fly”: A Very Greek Take on Teenage Life

You might think this just might be one of those teen movies you would watch in North America. Think again. The themes of bullying, fitting in and adolescent sexuality are covered in “Sgt. Fruit Fly” but with a hard-edged Greek tinge that make the movie truly appealing to the 15 plus teenage crowd and adults. It was shot in Kalyvia and Athens the Kalyvia setting giving it an exotic feel or a very Greek feel if you are familiar with Attica in Greece.

Stanley Smith (Jamie Mayers) lives with Canadian mother Rosemary (Mara Marini), sister Elenora and dog Vincent in Kalyvia a small town. Stanley is ruthlessly bullied by the Dumbskis a trio of teens with an absent father and a less than attentive mother.

Poor Stanley rides a pink bike named Fruit Fly and with his army issued helmet he is named Sgt. Fruit Fly by the Dumbskis.

Stanley is rather taken in by the oversexed Nikoletta but it is the Goth Girl that has true non exploitative feelings for Stanley. Nikoletta has the moves, the body but is a user that promises to be Stanley’s girlfriend when he buys a fast car and turns over ownership of it to her.

Rosemary plays a Roma character telling fortunes, reading a crystal ball and making potions including a courage potion for Stanley as he is brutally pummeled by the Dumbskis.

Stanley works at a bowling alley club owned by the very strange Danny (Makis Papadimitriou) who abuses him. Papadimitriou showed his acting mettle in “Suntan” and in his role here shows he can pull off a comedic role. Nikoletta sleazes her way into a bartending job at the bowling alley. She is a bit of a “slut” as Rosemary refers to her as “just like her mother”.

The Dumbski’s decrepit father George has his children, yes his children, stage a robbery of Danny’s bowling alley and the horror-fairy tale begins. All is happy. Stanley is a hero and discovers his true love is with the Goth Girl.

What sets this film apart from North American “equivalents” is the vicious brutality of the Dumbskis and the fact that young teens are staging an armed heist. Leslie Dumbski (Niki Skiadaresi) is not a misguided teen but a vicious thug she conveys so convincingly. And Nikoletta (Stefania Champilomati) is indeed a teen reeking of shallow and exploitative sexuality and she does a superb and not overdone job of that. Kudos to Jamie Mayers for keeping the film centred and for that matter somewhat wholesome. The film is no Cinderella story but it is certainly no “Dusk Until Dawn”.

A refreshing teen movie but my thought it is suitable for 15 years of age and up. This is not sterile teen movie. It has an edge. Written and directed by Tommy King. Ahead of its time for the North American market.

Part of the 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) showing in theatres and on line 1-31Ocober2024 in 11 Canadian Cities.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmkuNm_oGa4

I give this film a 90/100.