Xenia

Dany and Ody are brothers who have not seen each other for a while. Then Dany turns up in Piraeus to tell Ody that their flamboyant Albanian mother has dies and that they need to find their estranged Greek father – and to enter Ody in 'Greek Star' – a talent show of all talent shows. Oh yes and to get Greek citizenship and thus avoid being deported.

So begins the odyssey and it is necessary to point out that Dany is gay and fairly extrovert and the film takes a few minutes to warm up and I implore you to stay with it – you will be well rewarded. It has surreal moments to including one with a big bunny rabbit – but 'Donnie Darko' this ain't.

The enthusiasm for the characters and the care in which they are played shines through the screen. There is also a plethora of supporting players and I loved nearly all of them. Plus we get some great song and dance routines and a soundtrack that makes you want to get up and join in. I simply adored this film it left me in a great mood and I was miffed when it ended such is the fun of this journey. If you do not mind a bit of surrealism and can still believe in dreams or you just want a great loving film then this is one you will not wish to miss.

Two brothers looking for their father after the death of mother. A realistic - poetic portrait of Greece realities, beautiful acting, well used symbols and a seductive story of self definition, growing up, family, friends, connections and expectations, with fair influences of Fellini and Almodovar. For many reasons, a surprising film for high honesty first. But beautiful and smart constructed, cold and touching.

The modern Greek odyssey, in search of decent work and identity papers for these brothers, whose father was born on this multi-millennial soil, clashes with a part of today's culture, with nationalists defending their country's national identity giving rise to anti-Albanian sentiment, due to its economic immigration.

Since the arrival of the Golden Dawn political party, from which emerged this film denouncing the twilight of their neo-Nazi brown eagle, manifestly opportunistic, it gives credence to the mirage of political wealth created by the Greek miracle, a bubble of chewing gum that sank into misery.

A demagogic battlefield, despite everything, springs forth this fraternal story that joins the two ends, welded, an essential and stronger bond, with an overprotective big brother and his adorable younger brother, tender, sweet, emo, effeminate - eats sweet, succulent and delicious - made of strange dreams.

Stuffed animals and personified animals, where the parents are absent, whose mother Albania sang of the bonds of children and sons, even in dreams, strange and strange indeed, strange but solid 7/10.

The movie «Xenia» (with the accent on the i, but I will not tell you what it is in the story) is more Aristotelian than other Greek adventures of recent vision, with a "secure structure" built on cause and effect, and it is also more sentimental, more melo-Greekly passionate... And very gay in tone (by courtesy of director Panos Koutras), although no sexual orientation is the core of the plot. It has to do with two brothers born in Crete, children of an Albanian woman who has just died and a Greek man who abandoned them. Suddenly the younger one realizes that his brother and he were not recognized, they have no documents, they are strangers in their own land, so out they go in search of their (s.o.b.) father, while some dreams are sought after and a maturing process leads them to their goals. Excellently played by the two leading actors, Kostas Nikouli and Nikos Gelia, the film combines the harsh realities of xenophobia and privation with beautiful scenes, like a brief night cruise by boat, while the boys sleep on board and on the shore the vessel is escorted by the entities in their fantasies during childhood, a period signed by abuse (David Lynch would applaud) and some surprises like Dido, the rabbit. «Xenia» won the Hellenic Film Academy awards for Best Motion Picture, Direction, Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Editing and Costumes; and the Best Film Award at the festivals of Gijón, Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago.

This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

This film is almost indescribable because it is a modern odyssey where two brothers cement their relationship on a journey to find their father and somehow grow and establish themselves, this whole journey is dotted with picturesque characters who capture the attention and all the stories are interesting because the main stuff is this journey, but everything around it is very interesting from start to finish. In the film all the nooks and crannies of the protagonists' personalities are explored in a beautiful way, even if the main protagonist is the young boy, his brother also has a large space managed very well in the film.