Alps

Less pointed than Dogtooth, Lanthimos' tries his hand at a more ambiguous film with mixed results. Is Alps about our inability to deal with the finality of death? Is it about the way humans assume roles to escape themselves? Is it satirising the lack of authenticity in the modern world? Lanthimos seems unsure of what he wants to say here, but there are some fascinating ideas buried beneath the cold and rigid formalism. It's just entirely too shapeless to have any real impact.

can't coalesce it all into something coherent yet, but the inversion of dogtooth at the climax (same actress trying to escape into a lie rather than out of one) seems real despairing coupled with its predecessor; there's nowhere to hide. i'm assuming, in a film with meta-concerns regarding cinema as therapy, it's not a coincidence we're behind that shattered glass screen. i wonder if "you're not ready for pop" isn't also aimed at the viewer, adding resonance to an already haunting final shot.

Does it really matter who the people in our life really are as long as they provide the role we expect of them?

One of the characters says; "I'm only hard on you for your own good." in the movie. And I'm asking Lanthimos; "Why are you so hard on us?"

I don't even know where to start with this one. Enjoyable, joyful and gratifying are just a few words that will probably never be associated with one of Lahtimos' films. The premise, however, is extremely interesting, as in his previous work - Dogtooth. It really makes you think and reflect on life and peoples behavoir. The acting is brilliant and so is the direction in general. If you like slightly different films, this is definitely one to watch, but if you don't, just skip it.

Just couldn't engage with it. Pretty images better enjoyed as still photographs. In a film, they feel pretty unmotivated. A lot of it feels thematically arbitrary, and not cohesive enough for me as an arthouse flick. Tries too hard.

Themes and especially premise are quite close to NORIKO'S DINNER TABLE (2005), but where Sono wants to send you directly into the nightmare of contemporary nihilism via the intimacy of a handheld camera, Lanthimos prefers bleak abstraction and statically framing bodies in the empty spaces of modern life. Both produce effective results, but for this viewer the Japanese film more strongly conveys a worldless world in which the ozone hole at the heart of signification has become dangerously open.

I loved Dogtooth. This however, didn't appeal to me at all. It explores a territory already covered in Noriko's Dinner Table, a much much much better film.

Rating is just a number for a film like ALPS.

when does she end and when does she begin

Taken with Dogtooth, Alps shows Lanthimos is a director interested in how we construct our own realities -- more often than not, the realities most readily digestible for us, in which we possess control over all the vagaries of everyday life. Alps is less about grief than it is about a group of people who seek intimacy and approval by jumping into the absences left by the departed and the willingness of others, seeking to encase the world in amber, to let them do so.

Another majestic performance from Papoulia. She is the gem for Lanthimos, for sure. Classic Lanthimos absurdity. He finds drama in the most surreal plots, and you can somewhat relate to that? Love this style. Not as strong as Dogtooth, but a really good movie.

Intriguing concept, and there are disturbing laughs to be had, as can be expected from Lanthimos, but Alps never goes anywhere. Maybe there is a great mystery here to unravel, and maybe it does have something to say. I didn't pick up on any of it. Slow, unpleasant, and impenetrable.

Take "Kynodontas", detract the claustrophobic setting, the mystique of the premise and the surprise factor, and you have "Alps": watered-down, nerveless and wholly unremarkable. As a successor to the breakthrough, and trademark, movie of Lanthimos and Filippou, it treads familiar ground instead of moving forward, and it does so in a decidedly less captivating manner.

Like Dogtooth it's an examination of authority and the futility of attempting to control every aspect of one's life, and it too uses an absurd premise to explore the ideas. There's a bit less shock value, but otherwise the tone is pretty similar. It also feels a bit less focused which has some advantages but makes the film feel a bit lacking. It's pretty compelling, though.

Probably the closest Lanthimos has gotten to capturing his trademark morbid interest in humans as actors, and yet it still doesn't feel quite coherent enough to justify the full 90 minute runtime.

Otantisite kaybını, onu dramatize etmeden konu edinen bir hikayede yeni sahiciliklere kapı açılabilir. Bu olasılık daha kurcalamaya değer geliyor..

A meditation on memory and loss that explores the borderlands between the living and the dead. It took me two viewings to appreciate its depth.

her sey eh iste

By standing in for deceased loved ones a group helps people with their grieving process. Because the movie never makes clear if all the relationships we see the protagonist in are played or some of them are real, it raises questions about intentions versus results, falseness versus real.

Alps strikes an interpretatively rich balance between an ambiguous absurdist/existentialist ambience and specific, formulaic character dynamics and cinematic techniques. E.g. the subjects of shots are consistently obscured or out of focus, full context is never given in a scene, and scenes are often edited out in subtle, unpredictable ways, leaving the viewer to experience the same framing/scene in an unfamiliar way. This weird recontextualization of the mundane recalls Camus and Sartre.

69.50

I'm a big fan of director Yorgos Lanthimos, who also did Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), but somehow, I missed this one until now. It had a similar style and similar ideas to his other works, but I can't say I loved this one. The concept is interesting, but the film itself is a little slow and inaccessible. For completionists only, I think.

The premise has more to say than the final outcome of the film. Felt similar to Holy Motors--in that we're constantly playing different roles and often are very different people, with different people.

Just didn't grab me, despite a somewhat intriguing premise. A letdown after Dogtooth.

yeah, noriko's dinner table is better, but this one's pretty good too.

I like the weirdness but it was just too boring compared to Dogtooth and The Lobster. And it took me half the movie to even figure out what they were doing. I read a review on Amazon that talked about an analogy to Greece and the financial implosion. Maybe that's what I missed. Yeah....

Intriguingly weird.

This film has only two phases: phase one is before the viewer learns the premise; phase two is after the viewer learns the premise. In both phases, the only 'plot' that happens is just a string of scenes that repeatedly (and redundantly) exemplify the premise. So the whole film is the same type of scene over and over, and the only change that happens throughout the film is when the viewer understands the premise. Films need to be more than just a premise. There's barely enough here for a short.

As was the case with "Kynodontas", this is peculiar, ingenious and relatively plotless -which can be both baffling and fascinating. The sheer weirdness of it (extended in the real world as well, not just within the confines of the cult) can be -and is- off-putting but, at the same time, Lanthimos' unique visual style, Papoulia's performance and the intrigue of the themes pulled me in. Ultimately, the film is much more of a hit than it is a miss and I enjoyed it aplenty.

Giorgos Lanthimos follows up DOGTOOTH with this enigmatic tale of a small outfit, code-naming themselves after the Alps, who serve as surrogates for the recently deceased. One of their number (Aggeliki Papoulia) becomes too involved with her work, with unsettling results. The deliberate pacing takes some getting used to, but it pays off with its dry humor, subtly impressive cinematography, acute portrait of Greek life, and fine acting--especially Papoulia as the tragically committed protagonist.

A very suitable follow-up to Dogtooth, although at the same time it shows a slightly troubling lack of progression for Lanthimos.

The idea of putting strangers together to show that anyone can play any role in anybody's life packs a punch, but, sadly, that's about it. Weird as this is, it requires a somewhat solid ground to serve as an initial viewpoint to believe the message - which is lacking - to rephrase, movie tries so hard to convince you that it stops making much sense really quick. It has its niche though: for one this movie can be used to teach the more rational people that life can get bananas really quick.

nisan 12, ist film fest & Alps, yonetmenn onceki isi gibi soguk bir film.Benzer duygular, diyaloglar & acayiplikler.Sanki bir formulu aynen uyguluyor. Sanirim Alps'in yonetmeninin bu tavrini artik auteur yon. olusuna baglamamiz gerekiyor. Yunanistan bir auteur yon kazandi. Demek ki ben de Alps'in yonetmenin bu tavrini yani dogal olarak filmlerini sevmiyorm. Fazla 'kurulmus', samimiyetten yoksun.

Intriguing and unique. Every thing is off kilter from the premise itself and how individual scenes are played out to the camera angles, positioning in the shot and focus.

Star Rating: ★★★1/2