Pressure

The summing up of forces which act vertically on the surface of a body / the exertion of force upon a surface by an object, fluid, etc. / a constraining or compelling force or influence / an action which brings somebody in distress, difficulties, harassment; oppression, etc.

“L”, by Babis Makridis
Tuesday 6/11

“Melodrama” by Nikos Panagiotopoulos
Wednesday 7/11

There are two basic events in the life of the characters of the two films which cause pressure. In the case of Vogiatzis in “Melodrama?” it is the return to an unfriendly and unknown country because his mother is ill. In the case of Servetalis, it is the discovery  of a new homeland (the land of motorbikes) when he loses his job (in the land of cars). Both characters try to adopt a new life. They try to learn from scratch a new code of function and behaviour. Both wonder about their identity. There is something common in both films in the way pressure is exerted. It emerges in a sneaky, corrosive way. Panagiotopoulos and Makridis keep a distance from what goes on. This distance allows them to look from afar, not cooly, but in irony and tenderness. A bitter sense of humor pervades the film while duration and spaces are left to speak, and be imposed on people. Both directors face the story without hiding. Neither the camera, nor the actors pretend verisimilitude. The cinema is always there, looking in. There is no attempt for realism. We are in a film, a closed system. The cinema is not an open window to the world and the pressure is, as always, existential. Death haunts both films from the first scene and cinema performs the task it knows best, filming our way to cinema itself.