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From The Edge Of The City
1998
A powerful, raw film about a group of outcast teenagers living in Menidi, a predominately Greek-Russian suburb near Athens, Greece. Filmed with a pseudo-documentary style, the actors gathered together by Giannaris had no prior acting experience. Because of this, the resulting performances are even more honest and believable. .. Read more
| Starring | Simela Chartomatsidi, Vasias Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos Giannaris |
|---|---|
| Director | Constantine Giannaris |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
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From The Edge Of The City
A powerful, raw film about a group of outcast teenagers living in Menidi, a predominately Greek-Russian suburb near Athens, Greece. Filmed with a pseudo-documentary style, the actors gathered together by Giannaris had no prior acting experience. Because of this, the resulting performances are even more honest and believable. This was Greece's official entry for consideration for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award in 1999.
| Starring | Simela Chartomatsidi, Vasias Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos Giannaris |
|---|---|
| Director | Constantine Giannaris |
| Studio | MILLIVRES MULTIMEDIA / LACE |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 33 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: Greek, Russian |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 17 Sep 2001 Production year: 1998 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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If this stark study of disenfranchised Russian émigrés operating on the outskirts of Athens proves anything, it's that, as far as cinema is concerned, the counterculture of the streets is the same no matter where you are. In following the misfortunes of a gang of pill-popping, petty thieving rent boys, director Constantinos Giannaris employs a technique that combines neorealistic episodes with talking head interviews and frantic time-lapse codas. While this adds immediacy to the authenticity, it distracts from the dramatic implications of Stathis Papadopoulos's dangerous liaison with frosty prostitute Theodora Tzimou and her ambitious pimp, Dimitris Papoulidis.
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In the immigrant ghettos outside Athens, kids seek kicks fast and furiously. Sasha from Kazakhstan like sex, drugs and... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Disappointing
The movie is about Russian-Greek street kids living in an immigrant suburb on the edge of Athens. An unseen interviewer asks questions and talks to them about their lives, drug use, etc.
We follow one hustler, Sasha, as he negotiates his way through family life, work and play. Sasha's traditionalist father can't understand his son's slacker lifestyle, but disapproval only strengthens the youth's resolve to rebel. When he isn't turning tricks, Sasha is paid by a pimp to look after his Russian whore, a girl Sasha quickly develops a crush on. Sasha and the rest vehemently deny they're homosexual. They're selling themselves to pay for drugs and material goods. However for some anyway it's more complicated.
The camera clearly loves the young actor playing Sasha, and it's a stylish film. I particularly enjoyed Sasha's dream sequences, from his boyhood in Kazakhstan. There's a political dimension to this film I was too ignorant to understand. Nuances about cultural distinctions between these immigrants (returned to their homeland on the collapse of the USSR) and Greeks meant nothing to me. Both groups appear homophobic, and there's one powerful scene describing the barbaric treatment dealt out to gay people in Russia.
The film was muddled, leaving me dissatisfied and confused about its message. Maybe I'd have been more impressed if I hadn't just seen Mandragora, a Polish film covering similar themes with far greater impact. Rent that one instead. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
A universal story - although rough around the edges here
A city. A worker from out of town looking for a cheap buck. Prostitution. This film tells a tale we have seen before. It is nowhere near as engaging as Midnight Cowboy nor is it as stark as Mandragora (how could it be?) but the film does show (especially at the beginning) why a young impatient man becomes attracted to a quick fix. We don't see Athens which any of us would recognise; we are not provided with hours of biographical detail; we don't see the consequences of our protagonists actions. However, we do see a roughly shot and cut film with performances that make you ask is this a documentary or film. This subject matter rarely provides a happy ending (Midnight Cowboy and Mandragora testify to that) and if you're comfortable with that I would take a look. If you like the first 15 minutes stick with the film; if not switch off for the subject matter is not a comfortable one. However, how many films have you watched from Greece that tell you how the back end of Greek life can be? They say it started with the Greeks so their back end might be our back end... and every pun was intended.
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A powerful, raw film about a group of outcast teenagers living in Menidi, a predominately Greek-Russian suburb near Athens, Greece. Filmed with a pseudo-documentary style, the actors gathered ... -