Film Review: ‘Worlds Apart’
Three linked tales set amid the cataclysm of Greece tell the story of a world — maybe our world — coming apart.
It’s been shown, on occasion, that audiences will turn out to see a movie about the post-9/11 world: a serious and inquiring drama of war, terrorism, and global culture clash. But even in an era as fraught with instability as this one, will people show up to see a movie that mirrors their economic anxieties? With rare exceptions (like “Up in the Air,” an early Hollywood responder to the 2008 meltdown that was followed by…not very much), the answer is no. That nerve is simply too raw.
Yet I can’t help but believe that a great wrenching drama that brilliantly channeled the collapse of the middle class would have the potential to strike a powerful chord with a mass audience. “Worlds Apart,” a small-scale drama from Greece, is like the baby-steps version of that movie. It interweaves three stories (sort of like “Babel,” though all set in one place — in this case, Athens), and it takes in the crisis of Middle Eastern refugees, but the film is most telling when it uses the disaster of Greece’s economic collapse to show us what’s really happening to people’s lives in one particularly messed-up region of the world — a region that may offer a glimpse of what’s going to start happening elsewhere.
Giorgos, on the other hand, is hanging on. But then he falls into a coldly erotic affair with Elise (Andrea Osvart), the laser-like, amoral Swedish consultant who’s in charge of the downsizing. It’s like “Up in the Air: The Dark Side,” and Papakaliatis, as an actor, puts us in touch with the tug-of-war that’s going on inside Giorgos. Can he save his own hide and liberate himself too?
“Worlds Apart” lands in an episode that feels like dessert. It stars J.K. Simmons, who plays Sebastian, a German lonelyheart with a twinkle in his eye. Surprisingly, Simmons’ attempt at a German accent is not very good, but he looks cuddlier in a beard, and he gives an expert, soft-shoe performance that rescues what might have been a cloying encounter. Sebastian meets Maria (Maria Kavoyianni), an unhappy housewife whose family has run out of money; their courtship consists of meeting, every Friday afternoon, at the supermarket, where Sebastian buys her fruits and vegetables — a romantic gesture that might seem preposterous if it weren’t so infectiously…dystopian. These two lost souls find a communion, in an episode that suggests “Marty” as staged by late-period Fellini. And then we learn who Maria really is.
As a cinematic import, it’s doubtful that “Worlds Apart” will gain much traction. It isn’t bad, but it’s kind of a trifle. Though it treats its themes with reasonable honesty, it can’t help but come off as a bit diagrammed. Yet the movie is onto something: what happens to a society when “ordinary” life begins to get stripped away. It’s a theme you can bet we’ll be seeing a lot more of.
Film Review: 'Worlds Apart'
Reviewed at Dolby 24, January 5, 2017. MPAA Rating: Not rated. Running time: 115 MIN.
PRODUCTION: A Cinema Libre Studios release of a Plus Productions prod. Producers: Kostas Sousoulas, Christopher Papakaliatis, Chris Papavasiliou, Dorothea Paschalidou. Executive producer: Lydia Michail.
CREW: Director, screenplay: Christopher Papakaliatis. Camera (color, widescreen): Yannis Drakoularakos. Editor: Stella Filippoulou.
WITH: Christopher Papakatiatis, Andrea Osvart, J.K. Simmons, Maria Kavogianni, Minas Chatzisavvas, Tawfeek Barhom, Niki Vakali.
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Ainda sem distribuição em sala (Portugal)
Χριστόφορος Παπακαλιάτης
Alternativa no pequeno ecra da TVC3 3/2/2018 e 5/2/2018
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https://www.youtube.com/user/cpapakaliatis
Programação TV - TVC3 (TV Cine 3)
| Ονομασία | Έρως και Ψυχή |
|---|---|
| Δημιουργός Αντονιο Κανοβα | |
| Έτος δημιουργίας | 1788 - 1793 |
| Διαστάσεις | 1,55 x 1,68 x 1,01 μ |
| Μουσείο | Μουσείο του Λούβρου |
