Crash

The process of compressing / mash or dissolution by pressing / mental debilitation

“The Order” (Paraggelia), by Pavlos Tassios
Sunday 4/11

“Soul Kicking” by Yiannis Ekonomides
Monday 5/11

In both these films, the testing of materials resistance leads to the crime. Violence seems the only discharging way out. It seems that the point at issue is the way the characters gradually get crashed, the way violence is accumulated and reflected. The two characters have substantial differences. Koemtzis in “The Order” finds himself in a constantly turbulent situation, while Takis in “Soul Kicking” absorbs intensities and conflict without expressing himself or becoming furious. Tassios chooses realism in order to depict the lumpen-milieu of Koemtzis: houses, companies, night joints, all have the power and the truth of a cinema that is close to the films of Alexis Damianos. The camera meets the extroversion of characters and moves bodily, together with them. On the contrary, Economides weaves the geometric web of a form which escapes the realism of “Machbox” in order to meet the strict theatrical form that allows intensity to emerge unbeatable. Characters boil with rage, yet most of the time they remain unmoving. Violence is primarily verbal. Cinema is itself unmoving and static. These formal differences seem to follow the different mentality of the characters. However, despite the differences, their fate seems to be shared. The crash comes because of the accumulation of violence. Consequently, violence only begets violence.