No Budget Story

Irinaios is a young director. He believes that one day his talent will be recognized and he will become very famous but, for the time being, he is broke. Forced to find a job in order to pay the rent, he meets Tolis. Tolis claims to be rich and willing to fund Irinaios' film. Maria lives next door to Irinaios and he falls in love with her. Since she is an actress, he promises to let her star in his movie. So, everything seems to be set for his dream to come true. Tolis, though, has some other things in mind...

With his debut film, Renos Haralambidis demonstrates his love for cinema: "No budget story" is full of references to his favorite directors, actors etc. It is clearly influenced by Alexnadre Rockwell's "In the soup". In fact, Haralambidis almost copies Rockwell's film but eventually creates something very personal, a film about a young man's desire for artistic creation, for fame and love. Partly autobiographical, the film is shot in black and white, which really suits the "underground" feeling that emanates from it. Acting is pretty good, especially Yorgos Voultatzis. The pace is a bit slow but it never becomes boring. 87 minutes is as long as it should have been.

I really enjoyed the movie! There are a lot of funny moments but in the end I was left with a bittersweet feeling because Irinaios (which is -by the way- Renos Haralambidis' true name) is partly an ambitious dreamer and partly a looser with whom you can't help sympathizing.

This is a very nice film for every cinema lover but it does not appeal to mainstream tastes. Give it a try!