Hardcore

Fun and games it's not, a great movie it is. It's masterfully directed it oozes creativity, it's touching and hard at the same time, it hasn't got a boring moment, it was snubbed by critics, it's in one word brilliant. Dennis Iliadis paints a picture of wasted youth but the movie is much more than a cautionary tale. It is a film about longing, about the need to feel at home, the need of a family. The movie's young protagonists may seem as lost cases to some, but they are no different than you and me. They may sell their bodies they may kill for fun and money, but, hey, we all do what we have to do... Try to see this movie. it's worth your admission money(and then some)!

Though not mistaking this for that George C Scott/Paul Schrader film, this is the ultimate in eye candy eroticism, and shock, for two young pros, and their hustler boyfriends trying to make it, outside of what is hooking, but you know what's like. This is a well made foreign SBS type film, hot Greek Style, where we jump straight into this uncompromising film about hooking and drug taking, plus a little bit of blood. We have another much younger girl, can't more than 16, who joins them, her naivety, painfully patent, one scene involving been broken, is pushing the envelope stuff, but this is what the movie does, where you feed off that vibe. Addictive eye candy shock flick, emphasize erotic, Tsavalou, a hot Greek revelation of a beauty.

The craziest new greek movie I have ever seen. At last a greek film maker "tried" to be ispired by the great Quentin Tarantino. It was about time. Nice scenario, no deep thinking purpose for everything is happening but still so good and fast rolling in the film. The plot doesn't stuck nowhere. Very good filming but very bad sound. The actors are all young and very beautiful (nessesary for the roles they are playing)which means that the casting was very good. The real reason I liked it is that I 've seen from inside this game of hookers and drugs because of my birthplace in Athens. Generally, although I laught very very much but I won't see it again.

HARDCORE is a very decent film about the lives of two young girls caught up in prostitution and drugs. Whoever likens this to a Tarantino film obviously didn't see the same film I did. HARDCORE is more comparable to something like KIDS than any of Tarantino's films. Good story-line and very strong performances make this one add up to a very good film overall...

Nadia and Martha are two young Greek hookers who begin a strange and tumultuous lesbian relationship. Quickly working their way up the "ranks" - the girls are offered better and higher-paying tricks based on their past "performance". Nadia is a level-headed and ambitious young girl, while Martha is more needy and reliant on Nadia's guidance. When the two girls beat a potential murder-rap after the killing of their pimp - Nadia falls into a modeling career and becomes successful very quickly. Although Nadia takes care of Martha and allows her to live with her - Martha becomes more needy as she see's Nadia use and being used by shady agents and magazine publishers. This all ends in a strong climax, where Martha realizes that she will never be truly happy while living in Nadia's shadow...

HARDCORE is an all-around strong film that deals with subject matter and content that may bother some. The girls are 16 and 17 respectively when they begin their prostitution career, and the audience is shown some strong scenes of their sexual liaisons with clients and others. Fans of films like KIDS, and BULLY (and numerous other late-teen angst films) will definitely be into this one. The performances by the two female leads are dead-on, and the way the story-line progresses is interesting and original. Definitely worth a look...8.5/10

Hardcore it is not.

It wants to be, though. It's got violence, but compared to what it could have been, it's not much worse than a Disney movie.

It's got sex, but it's so fake you could watch this with your mother without feeling awkward. Also, as an aside, in a five man gangbang there will be at least two guys who are going to look mighty dumb doing the thrusting moves.

Thinking about it, the only thing hardcore about this whole thing is me, for sitting it out all the way.

This is in no small part due to the two leads, who were mesmerizing to look at. I can't vouch for their acting skills, since the movie was so aggressively incoherent that I couldn't determine if a face they were making was appropriate to the situation they were in. I will reference one scene by saying that's most definitely not how you suffocate someone with a pillow. Don't ask me how I know, officer.

It also didn't help that I had to make due with the subtitles, considering I only know two words of Greek. Though I heard both of them, it didn't help me much.

Perhaps I should return to this film after I've learned Greek. Maybe then it'll make some sense.

It's too bad. This movie could have been interesting to me if it didn't get up its own ass so much. Less "art" would have gone a long way in making sense of some of the girls' actions, and once a character is dead, I don't want to have to try and figure out why they're suddenly at the dinner table again.

So, three stars for what it could have been.