Chevalier

The plot is that six friends all go on a luxury trip aboard a yacht in the Aegean Sea. They do all the things you are supposed to do like scuba diving, eating rich sea food and water sports, but they soon start to get on each other's nerves. Then one of them has an idea of a new game. This is to find out who is 'best' and this they will do by coming up with competitions with which they can collectively judge each other. By the time they hit port they can tot up the scores and the winner gets to wear the Chevalier ring.

Then the fun begins and these middle aged men soon let their inner demons out as competitiveness rears its ugly head and all too quickly it is every man for himself – in a very restrained way of course.

Now this is a comedy but for me it was long on good ideas but short on laughs. There are a few but not scattered liberally. The acting is all great and the crew are as relevant as the main players and indeed injected a dimension that keeps this from becoming 'becalmed' – to use a nautical reference. It did keep me interested until the end, but I still feel I am being generous with my score. In Greek with good subtitles – this is an original film that hopefully will float your boat.

Whoever thought this was good comedy material may need to think about other ways of making a living. The combination of writer, Efthymis Filipou and director Athina Rachel Tsangari (also co-writer) proves to be far from satisfying - other than for the easily pleased. How many times have we seen this stale scenario played out on stage and screen – a group of middle aged 'buddies' away on a luxury fishing trip who, begin to become bored with each other's company and decide to find ways of 'entertaining' themselves at each other's expense. The hapless viewer knows the superficial direction this is taking within minutes of playtime IE; Who of them is the best, the biggest, the most successful, the most, etc, etc,....absolutely nothing new here, in fact, it's all presented in a lack-lustre derogatory formula that drags on far too long.

Only self-congratulatory festival critics could rave on so about works of this caliber. If you're inclined to follow the trending rants of Sundance and other world film festivals you might have a chance staying awake through this lame offering. Either the director or cinematographer or both, waste the settings and situations with boring in-focus-out-of-focus on deck exercise machine discussions, not once but twice, as if they have just discovered the use of photographic depth of field. The cast of handpicked performers try to inject life into old situations but are doomed to morose failure by a suss script and heavy-handed direction. If this is supposed to be an intellectual character study then it sure needs a lot of explaining.

While some of the soundtrack music selections are good within themselves, they just don't suit the story. I have no trouble believing the comments made by the reviewer from the Netherlands who wrote; "The cinema they attended was packed for the beginning and half empty by the mid-way point" - the viewers voted with their feet. Only on SBS and the trash-fest of World Movies would you find this 'entertainment' non-event. Sorry Greece, if this is regarded as one of your years best you may have a problem.

This is a slow burner. A very weird slow burner. I'm not sure, maybe it's a Greek thing, but it's a little hard to get into. It's pretty good though. Unnerving and darkly comic. Six men on a luxury yacht devise a game one evening, a game to decide who is 'the best in general'*. It's an odd idea that sees them testing each other in increasingly bizarre and personal ways. For a game it feels very serious, the men becoming more and more calculated, even cruel and manipulative. I don't know any of the actors but they all do a great job in portraying the tension they're under and pushing that on to the viewer, which makes it very stressful! A fairly damning appraisal of the male ego and their eagerness to take part in character assassination. 6/10 *this may have got a little lost in translation.

Divers return with their catch to a mega-yacht at anchor in the Saronikos Sea. These guys have riches, leisure, health and care-free lives. With this much testosterone in a confined space there is bound to be trouble. It comes in the form of a contest to determine who the best is at everything. The winner is awarded a trophy ring from the others. It doesn't take long for each paragon of machismo to morph into a man-child.

The men grade each other on skills, assets and accomplishments including such things as posture, teeth, cooking, politeness, virility, underwear and how quickly they can put together a shelf. Points are taken away for rudeness, bad singing, snoring or drooling in your sleep. The film began with so much promise. The location was fantastic, the theme was intriguing and the characters were interesting. It all was fabulous in the beginning. It just didn't come together very well or maintain its sway. The acting, scenery, depth, story and editing collapsed toward the end. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

The film is about a bunch of men overtly engaging in comparing their status and worth. This sounds as comedic a premise as any, but the director is quite restrained and doles out the funnies in a languid tempo (although there is certainly a climax to the proceedings). The writing is very good, and takes care to provide details that deftly flesh out the characters: these are not rah-rah bros, the relationships among them are subtle and fuel much of the action. The actors are quite brilliant, always shy of hamming it up, perhaps tellingly so.

This is what I found most impressive about the film, the sense of director's control of the material. You could milk this premise for a lot of cheap laughs, but the film feels free to go broad or subtle, just hint at hilarious episodes, take the time to enjoy the view from the boat, linger a while at the harbour before going back home. At all times however the perspective is assured, the characters are never made fun of, and the viewer is invited to witness as much silliness as they like.

I am docking a bunch of points because all this restraint on balance does gets a bit draining, but I think that everyone will enjoy the time spent at the company of these gentlemen.