· Genre: Drama
· Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
· Cast: Aggeliki Papoulia, Aris Servetalis, Johnny Vekris, Ariane Labed
Greek helmer Yorgos Lanthimos made his first feature film in 2001, but it wasn't until last year that he gained greater attention with his Oscar nominated film Dogtooth, a stunning feature that takes a particularly unique look at the evolution of child rearing. The film immediately put the director on the industry's radar, which in turn added extra attention on his follow-up Alps, which is just now hitting the film festival circuit, two years after Dogtooth won the Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, while carrying a somewhat intriguing idea, the film falls flat, thinking it's far more interesting than it actually is.
Four nameless characters — a nurse (Aggeliki Papoulia), paramedic (Arus Servetalis) and a gymnast (Ariane Labed) and her coach (Johnny Vekris) — make up a group they refer to as "Alps." This group offers something of an unusual approach to grief counseling, serving as substitutes for the deceased in an effort to help friends and family with the grieving process. Considering their leader is a paramedic and one of their primary employees is a nurse, it makes acquiring clients relatively easy. However, this is a job not without pitfalls.
Focusing primarily on the story of the nurse, we watch as she loses her identity. As members of this group the "employees" are expected to follow a strict set of rules as laid down by their leader. The nurse, however, has grown fond of one particular case, a case that may soon prove her downfall.
Alps is delivered similarly to Dogtooth in that it reveals itself in layers, attempting to draw the viewer into this scenario slowly until you're accustomed to the organization's modus operandi and along the way realize where the nurse has gone wrong. And inside of this process there is a strange tone to the feature that had some members of my audience laughing at what could be considered absurd, but I viewed as extremely sad.
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