A pitch black Greek Weird Wave comedy from Babis Makridis about a man who feels like the world is unjust and not cruel enough to him
The main character of this film, a respectable, well-off lawyer, is suffering. His wife is in a coma after an accident, he is alone with his son, and everyone feels sorry for them. The neighbor lady cooks them an orange cake every morning just so the two men wouldn’t go hungry. And then, suddenly, the wife goes out of the coma. But the lawyer won’t have it. Because since the tragedy has passed, the pity has gone, too, and with it, the high that he has gotten used to. So what is a man to do to make himself pityful again?
It’s a very strange film, in accordance with the Greek Weird Wave. So strange in fact that a man approached me after the screening and asked me if I thought it was a black comedy or not. He noticed me laughing loudly, I guess. It is a black comedy. Pitch-dark. Abysmal. And I love it so much. Everything in it, from the pristine, deadpan surroundings to the lead actor Yannis Drakopoulos’s remarkable, tragicomic face.
And another joy is that this film is my newest sound obsession. I absolutely adore odd singing of bizzare songs in low tones, so when I was first watching “Pity” and heard the main character perform a weird song about the darkness of death, I was transfixed. I longed for this song, as it kept reverberating in my head. And then I finally got to watch the film for the second time, and recorded part of the song on my mobile phone,—not what you’re supposed to do, I know,—I now have it with me at all times to listen to. It will last me until I get the DVD or something.
Pity (Oiktos), 2018
Director: Babis Makridis
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