CULTURE

Following ‘Attack of the Giant Moussaka,’ a Greek director takes a look at ‘Real Life’

“Real Life,» Panos H. Koutras’s second film (following the successful sci-fi comedy «Attack of the Giant Moussaka») is nearing the end of filming and his production company, Playtime, decided to celebrate its new project with a small party recently. The celebration was also in honor of the French actress Anna Mouglalis (whose family tree includes two Greek grandparents), who plays one of the lead roles in the film alongside her Greek counterparts Nikos Kouris, Themis Bazaka (sporting a surprising new look) and Marina Kalogirou. Also present at the party were Greek Film Center President Diagoras Chronopoulos and the movie’s producers: Takis Veremis, Panos Papahadzis, Athina Sakellariou and Frenchman Fabrice Coat, who approached Koutras after watching a screening of «Moussaka.» «Real Life» – which is co-produced by Argonaftes SA, Strada Productions, Program 33, the Greek Film Center and Filmnet – tells the story of 27-year-old Aris’s return to Athens. He rediscovers the city he left behind, his wealthy home and his eccentric mother. Ready to make a new start, Aris embarks on a journey of self-discovery and tries to uncover his family’s history. «It is over the top,» says Koutras, who also wrote the screenplay with Panayiotis Evangelidis. «It is full of extreme feelings, sarcasm, events that seem to mean very little, games of fate and important, unforeseen events. It is poised between the dramatic and the comical, the grand and the trivial, reality and artificiality.» The narrative form and cinematic style of the film, is, according to the director, a «reference to classic melodramatic cinema, shot through with a modern point of view.»

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