KinoTopia 054 - Europa! Europa! Film Festival - Kinetta (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2005)
Is Kinetta as good as Lanthimos' Boxing Day romp Poor Things? Mr. Caverly inquires.
Kinetta
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2005
DCP Courtesy: Paramount
Classification: M15+
Screening March 5 @ 6:45pm at the Classic, Elsternwick
Words by Jasper Caverly
On my first day at VCA’s film school, an institution infamous for shaping bratty writer-directors, each student in my cohort was asked what our favourite film was. As you would expect, the answers were pretty broad with everything from Wong Kar-wai and Tarkovsky mentioned, varying Star Wars films and even Mean Girls (which is an iconic answer). At the time I was admittedly interested in a lot of male auteur filmmakers, with Stanley Kubrick being a standout, and had latched onto a certain Greek filmmaker I found to be his disciple - carrying on a lineage of gallows humour, precise compositional tendencies and shocking psychosocial analysis.
“The Lobster,” was my answer. I was (and still am) captivated by the film’s scathing take on courtship and the roles we play to succeed within it. And I’m clearly not the only one, with Cinema Nova committed to screening the film on Valentine’s Day every year since 2021 at their tongue-in-cheek, self-described ‘offbeat and unusual’ LOVE FEST.
Yorgos Lanthimos has since become a household name with his 11-time Academy Award nominated period-comedy, The Favourite, reaching much wider audiences. Memorably, the film’s success saw Olivia Colman promising to snog anyone she forgot to mention in her speech whilst accepting the Oscar for Best Actress in 2019.
Someone I sincerely hope was in line for a kiss at the after party was Favourite screenwriter, and Melbourne-educated-Tony McNamara, who most recently penned Yorgos’ smash-hit: Poor Things (2023). The film is again nominated for 11 awards at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
McNamara, a recent BAFTA and AACTA-winner, joins the Greek Weird Wave-cum-Hollywood director as well as Emma Stone on four occasions (Kinds of Kindness release date TBA and Bleat TBC whether we’ll ever see it at all), the lesser-known but immensely talented cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis (who shot all of Yorgos’ films up until 2018) and editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis: who has cut every film for Lanthimos since 2001.
Since 1995’s Kinetta, Yorgos Lanthimos’ oeuvre has hinged on repeated psychosocial examinations of lonely, alienated individuals struggling to find their place in the world - a tendency of Greek Weird Wave cinema. Roughly credited to begin with the 2009 absurdist-drama Dogtooth, the films of this movement emerged during a period of rapid financial decline in what is colloquially known as The Crisis. The Weird Wave speak to these conditions, yearning a time where Greece was a bastion of wealth and great thinkers, in their provocations of national identity, belonging, gender and modernity while undermining the traditions of cinematic realism (discussed at length by Dimitris Papaniklauo).
While Kinetta precedes (or preempts) this fashionable trend in contemporary Greek cinema, the foundations of the Weird Wave are distinctly present in rudimentary form as Kinetta’s unlikely band of outsiders who cultivate unusual kinship: resisting a political climate of dissatisfaction.
In a dreary Greek resort town during the off-season, Kinetta sees an exhibitionist chambermaid, a voyeuristic photo-store clerk and a ‘Man Obsessed with BMW’s’ (as he is credited) find solace in re-enacting unsolved murders. As their personal and professional lives become slowly entangled, the line between performance and participation is lost in the fantasies they pursue.
Kinetta’s script is sparse in dialogue and utilises the movement-based expressions Lanthimos acquired during his tenure working in experimental theatre. In fact, many of the scenes seem as if the exercise is more important than motivating the story, offering an absurdist whimsy in the playfulness of the performances, which does a lot to develop tactile characters but very little in progressing a narrative.
As far as tracing a visual blueprint across Lanthimos’ double-decade foray in feature filmmaking, Kinetta is so aesthetically distant from his later films that there’s no apparent connection between the past and present.
Immediately apparent is a sense that cinematographer Thimois Bakatakis was either not allowed or unable to attain a tripod - his contribution to the shaky-cam cinema canon as though it came straight from Dogme95’s vow of chastity. This stylistic choice is a far cry from the ultra-wide angle, vibrant Kodak Ektachrome colour of Poor Things, as noted by Harrison Leech in KinoTopia 046.
Lanthimos would soon scrap this erratic and frankly exhausting approach to covering his scenes in favour of the wide, tableaux-like master shots that have become part of his directorial DNA. The stillness of each frame as Ariane Labed showcases her sometimes-childlike, sometimes-sexy dance routine in Dogtooth immediately comes to mind - more perverse than it is conventional.
In immediate contrast, Kinetta’s perplexing cold-open is comically uncouth and bordering on illegible. Imagine the auto-erotica of Crash (1996) or the on-foot excursions of Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas but shot as if the director’s favourite movie is The Blair Witch Project and your housemate's HDV camcorder is the only camera available to you.
Cast members Aris Servetalis, Costas Xikominos and Evangelia Randoutoo would later be found in the films of Weird Wave pioneers such as Christos Nikou, Babis Makridis, Sofia Exarchou as well as a personal favourite Athina Rachel Tsangari - whose 2010 film Attenberg I never shut up about.
In a sense, the meagre size of the Greek film industry and therefore inevitable cross-pollination that comes with it are conditions our local industry is no stranger to - certain actors championing Australia cinema with an obligatory supporting role and the select-few, shortlisted directors incentivised to make gritty procedural and/or ‘based on a true story’ dramatisations.
I lament our own national cinema canon and its seeming irrelevance on the international stage. An industry that is yet to be liberated from the habitual funding of commercially inoffensive, four-quadrant films: imposing an artistic abstinence upon the future of Australia’s storytellers. But as they say: the grass is always greener.
Since that first day at film school, Yorgos Lanthimos hasn’t retained his position as my favourite filmmaker but I still rewatch The Lobster from time to time. However, if a money-bag producer is reading this I have a Lanthimos-lite elevator pitch for you: a group of hobbyist sommeliers at a Hope St Radio speed-dating event are asked to profile a unlabelled chilled red, only to be served refrigerated Precious Earth.
Without this week’s self-imposed assignment to cover a Europa! Europa! screening, who have clearly sought to capitalise on the success of Poor Things, I also may have left the cinema after 60 minutes (as some less tolerant attendees chose to). Thankfully, the cost of admission and a fondness of handheld cinematography - find evidence here - kept me in my seat for Kinetta’s reasonable 98-minute duration.
Aso, how often do we get to look back to the beginning of something so special and think: "Thank god he started using a tripod”.
WEEKLY FILM LISTINGS
February 8 - February 14
Decadent Editions: Book Launch
La Captive
Chantal Akerman, 2000
Screening Friday 23 Feb 6pm (drinks on arrival)
Jia Zhangke Retrospective
Pickpocket
Jia Zhangke, 1997
Screening Sat 24 Feb
Ash is Purest White
Jia Zhangke, 2018
Screening Sat 24 Feb
Still Life
Jia Zhangke, 2006
Screening Sun 25 Feb
Artificial Eye
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky & Nicholas de Pencier, 2018
Screening Sat 24 Feb
Matinees
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
Screening Fri - Sun
Artificial Eye
Watermark
Jennifer Baichwal & Edward Burtynsky, 2013
Screening Sat 10 Feb
Sunshine City
Albie Thoms, 1972
Screening Tuesday 27 February @ 8pm
ASTOR CINEMA
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, 2023
Screening Daily
Tenet
Christopher Nolan, 2020
Screening daily
BBBC CINEMA (GALLERYGALLERY BRUNSWICK)
Returning in April!
Paprika (パプリカ)
Satoshi Kon, 2006
+
Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ)
Satoshi Kon, 2003
Screening Friday 23 Feb
CHINATOWN CINEMA
Article 20
Zhang Yimou, 2024
Screening Daily
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Haruo Sotozaki, 2023
Screening Daily
Rob n Roll
Albert Mak, 2024
Screening Daily
Table For Six II
Sunny Chan, 2022
Screening Sun - Tue
The Movie Emperor
Ning Hao, 2023
Screening Sat - Tue
Pegasus II
Han Han, 2024
Screening Sat - Tue
CINÉ-CLUB (Carlton)
No Screening this week
No screening this week
Previewing
Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania, 2023
Screening Sat + Sun
In season
Drive Away Dolls
Ethan Coen, 2024
Screening Daily
The Rooster
Mark Leonard Winter, 2023
Screening Daily
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, 2023
Screening Daily
Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismäki, 2023
Screening Daily
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Robert Connolly, 2023
Screening Daily
Bob Marley: One Love
Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2023
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Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Ariane Louis-Seize, 2023
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Dune Part I
Denis Villeneuve, 2021
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May December
Todd Haynes, 2023
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Riceboy Sleeps
Anthony Shim, 2024
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The Colour Purple
Blitz Bazawule, 2023
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Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
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Priscilla
Sofia Coppola, 2023
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The Iron Claw
Sean Durkin, 2023
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All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, 2023
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Ferrari
Michael Mann, 2023
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The Holdovers
Alexander Payne, 2023
Screening Daily
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
Screening Daily
Dream Scenario
Kristoffer Borgli, 2023
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Next Goal Wins
Taika Waititi, 2023
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Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023
Screening Daily
Coup de Chance
Woody Allen, 2023
Screening Daily
One Life
James Hawes, 2023
Screening Daily
Maestro
Bradley Cooper, 2023
Screening Thu / Tue
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki, 2023
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Dicks: The Musical
Larry Charles, 2023
Screening Daily
Napoleon
Ridley Scott, 2023
Screening Daily
Saltburn
Emerald Fennell, 2023
Screening Daily
Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki, 2023
Screening Daily
Bottoms
Emma Seligman, 2023
Screening Daily
Dream Scenario
Kristoffer Borgli, 2023
Screening Daily
The Old Oak
Ken Loach, 2023
Screening Dily
Uproar
Hamish Bennett, Paul Middleditch, 2023
Screening Daily
Sick of Myself
Kristoffer Borgli, 2022
Screening Daily
Past Lives
Celine Song, 2023
Limited
Barbie
Greta Gerwig, 2023
Limited
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan, 2023
Limited
DOGMILK DEGUSTATIONS: @ Miscellania
No screening this week
FOMO CINEMAS BRUNSWICK EAST
Bob Marley: One Love
Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2023
Screening Daily
Argylle
Matthew Vaughn, 2024
Screening Daily
The Colour Purple
Blitz Bazawule, 2023
Screening Daily
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Robert Connolly, 2023
Screening Daily
Priscilla
Sofia Coppola, 2023
Screening Daily
The Iron Claw
Sean Durkin, 2023
Screening Daily
The Holdovers
Alexander Payne, 2023
Screening Daily
Mean Girls
Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr., 2024
Screening Daily
Next Goal Wins
Taika Waititi, 2023
Screening Daily
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023
Screening Daily
Anyone but You
Will Gluck, 2023
Screening Daily
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki, 2023
Screening Daily
Closed for the semester
GAY24 (Bar Flippy’s)
No screening this week
HITLIST (9 Gertrude St, Fitzroy)
No screening this week
Europa!Europa! Film Festival tix on sale and program available here
Drive Away Dolls
Ethan Coen, 2024
Screening Daily
The Rooster
Mark Leonard Winter, 2023
Screening Daily
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, 2023
Screening Daily
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Ariane Louis-Seize, 2023
Screening Daily
Bob Marley: One Love
Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2023
Screening Daily
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Robert Connolly, 2023
Screening Daily
Dune Part I
Denis Villeneuve, 2021
Screening daily
May December
Todd Haynes, 2023
Screening Daily
Riceboy Sleeps
Anthony Shim, 2024
Screening Daily
Argylle
Matthew Vaughn, 2024
Screening Daily
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
Screening Daily
The Colour Purple
Blitz Bazawule, 2023
Screening Daily
Priscilla
Sofia Coppola, 2023
Screening Daily
The Iron Claw
Sean Durkin, 2023
Screening Daily
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, 2023
Screening Daily
The Holdovers
Alexander Payne, 2023
Screening Daily
Mean Girls
Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr., 2024
Screening Daily
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023
Screening Daily
Anyone but You
Will Gluck, 2023
Screening Daily
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki, 2023
Screening Daily
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese, 2023
Limited Screenings
OVA CLUB
No screening this week
THE MELBOURNE CINÉMATHÈQUE (ACMI)
The Night of the Shooting Stars
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 1982
+
Un Uomo Da Bruciare (A Man for Burning)
Valentino Orsini, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 1962
Screening Wednesday 28 February
TOP OF THE HEAP (Tramway Hotel)
No screening this week
MELBOURNE HORROR FILM SOCIETY @ LONG PLAY (North Fitzroy)
Relic
Natalie Erik James, 2020
Screening Tuesday 27 February @ 7:30pm
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: SCREENING IDEAS
No screening this week
PALACE BALWYN / BRIGHTON / COMO / KINO / PENTRIDGE / MOONEE PONDS / WESTGARTH
Drive Away Dolls
Ethan Coen, 2024
Screening Daily
The Rooster
Mark Leonard Winter, 2023
Screening Daily
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, 2023
Screening Daily
Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismäki, 2023
Screening Daily
Bob Marley: One Love
Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2024
Screening from Valentine’s Day
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Robert Connolly, 2023
Screening Daily
Dune Part I
Denis Villeneuve, 2021
Screening daily
May December
Todd Haynes, 2023
Screening Daily
Riceboy Sleeps
Anthony Shim, 2024
Screening Daily
Argylle
Matthew Vaughn, 2024
Screening Daily
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
Screening Daily
The Colour Purple
Blitz Bazawule, 2023
Screening Daily
Priscilla
Sofia Coppola, 2023
Screening Daily
The Iron Claw
Sean Durkin, 2023
Screening Daily
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, 2023
Screening Daily
Ferrari
Michael Mann, 2023
Screening Daily
The Holdovers
Alexander Payne, 2023
Screening Daily
Mean Girls
Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr., 2024
Screening Daily
Dream Scenario
Kristoffer Borgli, 2023
Screening Daily
Next Goal Wins
Taika Waititi, 2023
Screening Daily
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023
Screening Daily
One Life
James Hawes, 2023
Screening Daily
Two Tickets to Greece
Marc Fitoussi, 2022
Screening Daily
Anyone But You
Will Gluck, 2023
Screening Daily
Maestro
Bradley Cooper, 2023
Screening Daily
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki, 2023
Screening Daily
Napoleon
Ridley Scott, 2023
Screening Daily
The Old Oak
Ken Loach, 2023
Screening Dily
No screening this week
Drive Away Dolls
Ethan Coen, 2024
Screening Daily
The Rooster
Mark Leonard Winter, 2023
Screening Daily
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, 2023
Screening Daily
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Robert Connolly, 2023
Screening Daily
Dune Part I
Denis Villeneuve, 2021
Screening daily
Bob Marley: One Love
Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2024
Screening Daily
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Ariane Louis-Seize, 2023
Screening Daily
May December
Todd Haynes, 2023
Screening Daily
Riceboy Sleeps
Anthony Shim, 2024
Screening Daily
Argylle
Matthew Vaughn, 2024
Screening Daily
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
Screening Daily
The Colour Purple
Blitz Bazawule, 2023
Screening Daily
Priscilla
Sofia Coppola, 2023
Screening Daily
The Iron Claw
Sean Durkin, 2023
Screening Daily
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, 2023
Screening Daily
Ferrari
Michael Mann, 2023
Screening Daily
The Holdovers
Alexander Payne, 2023
Screening Daily
Mean Girls
Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr., 2024
Screening Daily
Dream Scenario
Kristoffer Borgli, 2023
Screening Daily
Next Goal Wins
Taika Waititi, 2023
Screening Daily
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023
Screening Daily
One Life
James Hawes, 2023
Screening Daily
Anyone But You
Will Gluck, 2023
Screening Daily
Two Tickets to Greece
Marc Fitoussi, 2022
Screening Daily
Wonka
Paul Knight, 2023
Screening Daily
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki, 2023
Screening Daily
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer, 2023
Screening Daily
The Rooster
Mark Leonard Winter, 2023
Screening Sat, Mon, Tue
Bob Marley: One Love
Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2024
Screening Fri, Sun and Wed
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet, 2023
Screening Sun and Wed
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh, 2023
Screening Saturday
UNKNOWN PLEASURES (Bill Mousoulis + Chris Luscri)
No Screening this week