F.L.S.

Somewhere undisclosed a never-ending brutal battle occurs between contestants thriving for a prize.

This is a Western take on Asian style films (Battle Royale, versus, etc.) and the survival genre (most like the Hunger Games) and it delivers well.

There are moments in the film that are indeed memorable and the pace is neither slow or fast, but perfect. You might be surprised by the quality of the acting and the film techniques overall (even though not all special effects are great, but it is justified).

It is a good example for a genre that is difficult and demanding, and I can see that there is a great road ahead for the actors and the director of this film.

Every game has its rules. When they are written with dark humor, losing seems like a joke. F.L.S. knows well Asian cinema's rules and incorporates them to its unique aesthetics, in order to create something totally new, fan, and already cult. Last Days of a Hero (when "last" stands for just a possibility), an interesting voyage in a world with red walls, whose mission is to be proved winner. He was born in a portable matrix and that allows him to belong nowhere. Our Hero's voyage is happening in a sickly green forest, flooded by rabbits. We never see them but we know they exist, mixed with pain and pleasure. Those rabbits play with masks, take pictures which are developed using human fluids and rub their fur to the camera. Forest flowers are sweetly dismembered and every player of the game is hanging over its arena. Opponents come and go, while our Hero is trying to become the king. A totally independent D.I.Y. film, which would be revealed only to the few willing to play its game, with an already recognizable cinema language, something rare and appreciable for a creative team in it first steps.

"A Greek movie with violence,splatter and anime-like look?You must be kidding"!This was my first reaction when I learned about "F.L.S." In the beginning, I thought it would be nothing more than a fan film made by buddies to entertain themselves.After all,it cost only 100 euro! But again,the fact that it competed at the 52th Thessaloniki Film Festival along with all the "serious" and expensive Greek productions of that year was quite reassuring that it couldn't be just a cheap piece of crap.The first reviews were quite good so I waited to watch it in Athens.However,the film never premiered in Athens(until early 2013)and it came out as an independent DVD box set.Since I really wanted to see this,I bought the collector's edition(DVD and comic book).It is clearly a low budget production,but the film is quite aspiring.The vision and the talent are there.What is missing is the money.I can see that what Thanos Tsavlis wanted to do is put together all his influence(or ahem,fantasies?) from anime and Asian films in general and create some short of a live-action anime.But all in all,it was what I expected to see from a descent but (very) low budget DIY film.The comic book that accompanies the collector's edition features the stories of various artists and is also good,being some short of additional background stories or sequel of the original movie. If you like the anime/manga/comics gerne and support such indie projects,then I say that you could possibly enjoy the whole package.