From The Edge Of The City on DVD (1998)

Disappointing

A customer from Glasgow, Scotland , 01/09/2004

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.

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Can I give 0 Stars?

A customer from Salisbury, England , 11/09/2004

I just didn't get this film. It all seems to be about nothing. Yes, the central character is undeniably cute, but you can't hang a whole film on that.

It seems to have something very important to say about immigrants in Greece, but as the subtitles seemed unable to cope with the different languages used to convey this sense of multi-cultural tension, most of it was lost on me. No gay theme at all really.

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Rewarding

WillCam from Cambridgeshire , 16/04/2005

Beautifully shot, with less than subtle narrative interventions which unexpectedly punctuate the narrative, this is a familiar tale of angst and teenage trauma, in a less than familiar location.

Worth viewing, if only for the fine, naive, acting of the lead actor.

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Stylish and interesting

A customer from Milton Keynes , 24/09/2005

The Pondi are Greeks originally from the Black Sea coast of Northern Turkey, who were ethnically cleansed from that country with the rise of Kemal Attaturk in the 1920s. Some moved to Greece, where they formed a distinct ethnic group, others to the Soviet Union. The main characters are exiled Pondic Greeks who emigrated from the collapsing Soviet Union in the 1990s. One of the characters complains he can’t speak his own language – Greek. They see themselves as distinctive from other immigrants – Albanians, Russians, etc. To the Athenian taxi driver, though, they’re all just immigrants.

The film is interesting mostly for its setting, mostly urban and suburban Athens. The main plot was unconvincing – the main character was to look after a prostitute while her pimp sold her to some criminals from the provinces. Otherwise the characters lives would have been just a repetitive round of sex and drug taking. There was some dry humour to relieve the action, like the suburban girl who complained that she didn’t know where her money went, and without drawing a breath said “do you want a line”. There were several unrelated deaths at the end of the film, perhaps in the belief that one would not be sufficiently dramatic.

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Disappointing

A customer from Glasgow, Scotland , 01/09/2004

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.

Read all highest rated reviews

Rewarding

WillCam from Cambridgeshire , 16/04/2005

Beautifully shot, with less than subtle narrative interventions which unexpectedly punctuate the narrative, this is a familiar tale of angst and teenage trauma, in a less than familiar location.

Worth viewing, if only for the fine, naive, acting of the lead actor.

Read all highest rated reviews