Attenberg

Difficult. That's what cult stands for in this situation. Greece's highest creations come from a group of people where they recycle and create via a type of rotation. The producer of Dogtooth become a director, the director an actor and so on. Not bad at all. Follows the artistic aspect of Dogtooth, showing a story on adulthood and dealing with loss and what you are. An unconventional human being (with a touch of Asperger's syndrome), a loving and caring father, a slutty best friend and a partner almost like an alter ego, resembles to her father, and mirrors herself. Honest, familiar yet artsy, method-ish and pretentious from time to time. But still opens up to the viewers, where the twisted is welcome, no one judges and offers himself to the public effortlessly, honestly almost unconditionally. A new era, post modern, unlocks the contemporary social establishment.

I recently saw this at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Marina (Ariane Labed) is a sexually inexperienced 23 year old who lives with her dying architect father Spyros (Vangelis Mourilas) in a Greek mining town. She shares her existence with her best and only friend Bella (Evangelina Randou) and for some unexplained reason they enjoy holding arms and doing silly walks together. Bella also brushes Marina up on the art of kissing. Bella works in a diner while Marina also has a job but we never really learn what she does. Marina's father is dying and she takes him to and from doctors appointments and the clinic and they eventually live together in a motel room close to the hospital. Marina and her father like to watch David Attenbourough nature documentaries where she and her father mimic the animals featured in them. She mispronounces Attenbourough's name as Attenberg, thus the name of the film. Marina finds a boyfriend in an engineer (Giorgios Lanthimos whom she does not want to share with Bella. Athima Rachel Tsangari directs this original story written by her. Not much of a story here. Not much of a film here either. Good soundtrack to this film with music by Suicide, François Hardy, Daniel Johnston, J.J. Johnson's Beboppers and Marilena Orfanu. Lanthimos who plays Marina's boyfriend is best know as the director of the critically acclaimed film Dogtooth. Attenberg is Greece's official submission for consideration as Best Foreign Language Film to this years Academy Awards. Surely there were better films to come out of Greece so why they chose this one perplexes me. I would give this a 5.0 out of 10.

This movie, despite seeming like a mess, makes a lot of sense to me.

Human existence is defined by essential contrasts. The sexual and the unsexual reflect the conflict between instinct and choice; death and life, the transience that gives meaning to the present.

Human existence is marked by contrasts that define and challenge us. Between the sexual and the unsexual lies the dilemma of creation and restraint, of desire and renunciation. What is instinctive clashes with what is chosen, revealing the boundaries and freedoms of our being.

Wisdom is the discernment that illuminates ignorance, while knowledge and the unknown coexist, reminding us of our limits. Finally, the rational and the animal find balance, uniting reason and instinct, showing that to be human is to embrace these dualities.

Very, very good!

Wihtout much info regarding the writer/director or a film presentation it's hard to solve the puzzle of what I've just watched (I have Chevalier in my watchlist: good reason to watch it sooner than later).

While I'm not sure if Attenberg is about human ethology, about a father-daughter bond, about Greece, industrial districts, young women, modern relationships or modern relationships of Greek young women in industrial districts...

OR simply autobiographical...

While I'm not sure of any of these, I can say that Attenberg is a pleasing and powerful watch.

It's weird, it's fresh, it's new, it's youth portrayed. I loved it, it's one of those films that stick with you even days after seeing it. It's a pretty simple plot but the interactions of Marina with her friend, her lover and specially her father are thoughtful, intimate, funny and very interesting to watch. The feeling of this movie is not to take very seriously major life events. In a way, it's a very positive, weird, original and funny movie. The intimacy achieved by the main actress it's amazing, and as much as I loved it, I understand not everyone will get it, or feel it the way I had. But to me, it was a journey whom I connected deeply with. The misanthropic and weird nature, but also positivity and amazingness of Marina captivated me. I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to watch it through MUBI. Plus! the soundtrack fu*king rocks, I love the band Suicide. It's a greek gem, and it certainly has become one of my favorites.