Pity
Oiktos
Panorama | Contemporary World Cinema
"Some men will do anything to stay sad." So goes the tagline for this mordant black comedy, played deadpan straight, which alternates between satire and tragedy with style to spare. Directed with an eye for the perfect composition by Babis Makridis, the droll scenario gives us a weak-willed lawyer (Yannis Drakopoulos) grieving over his comatose wife. When he realizes that he’s happier as a sad sack—the perks include frequent hugs from lovely women and ego-satisfying doses of sympathy all around—he decides to stay that way, even after she wakes up. This requires, as one might imagine, an elaborate charade, which soon takes on a ferocious life of its own, one that will have you cringing one minute and laughing out loud the next. Co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos’ regular collaborator Efthimis Filippou (recipient of a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination for The Lobster), this is a surprising take on the modern Greek male that proves Greece’s "Weird Wave" is still thriving.
"Assertively stylized and gleefully savage… [The film] strikes a tonal balance between ruthless and wry, which positions it comfortably alongside the best of Greece’s current new wave… Makridis employs several bold devices in the service of this scalding character study, the most striking of which is the use of droll intertitles which give an insight into a mind which is happiest being sad…"—Wendy Ide, Screen