‘Soul Kicking’ stands out among Greek films
In terms of audience enthusiasm, one Greek film that has stood out at the 47th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is Yiannis Economides’s «Soul Kicking,» which created a buzz at last year’s late-night screenings. The director of cult hit «The Matchbox,» broadens the scope of the insular, aggressive and consuming universe of the typical Greek household from a single home to a lot of different apartments. He pushes his characters to their limits. The dialogues are like the end of language, being spat out rather than spoken. Whatever objections one may have to the directorial approach that in «The Matchbox» came as such as surprise and relief only to become somewhat trapped within its very form in this new film, «Soul Kicking» still defies the conventional and transcends the ordinary. Most of the other Greek films showcased at the festival have settled for a passive approach. One exception is the documentary «Sugartown» by Kimon Tsakiris, while the other three Greek films screened so far seem destined for obscurity.
