Change Your Image
ashrafo
Reviews
Head On (1998)
An unredeeming self-loathing movie
The film pretends to portray the the homophobia, hypocrisy and oppression of immigrant communities (represented here by the Greek community in Australia). But the oppression is gratuitous and unwarranted. I am not doubting the realities depicted in the movie, but I am questioning the attitudes of the main characters. Even if people are faced by such circumstances, there is absolutely no reason why their reactions be so passive and submissive other than the inherent homophobia of the film and its makers. There is nothing redeeming about this awful self-hating movie, not even the good looks of its pathetic unlikable lead. I actually felt gratified when he was being beaten and humiliated (so much for a protagonist!)--and it's not only for the nudity (trust me, I like my porn more honest!). This film, and "Oxygen", are making me lose my faith in gay Greek cinema: self-indulgent, gratuitously melodramatic, AND unapologetically self-loathing. Next!
El mar (2000)
Intense & highly poetic
Like his earlier film, "In a Glass Cage", Agustí Villaronga achieves an intense and highly poetic canvas that is even more refined visually than its predecessor. This is one of the most visually accomplished and haunting pictures one could ever see. The heightened drama, intensity and undertone of violence threatens on the the melodramatic or farcical, yet never steps into it. In that way, it pulls off an almost impossible feat: to be so over-the-top and yet so painfully restrained, to be so charged and yet so understated, and even the explosives finales are virtuosic feasts of the eye. Unabashed, gorgeous, and highly tense... this film is simply superb!