Bright and sunny Greece, summertime and Demosthenes, a good-looking man that captures the eye from beginning to end of the film, an educational one (instructions included) on how to write a script, develop characters, and write about fiction based on facts. A comedy that embraces us, viewers into a platonic friendship.
We follow the hero (Yorgos Tsiantoulas) and the hero´s friend Nikitas (Andreas Labopoulos) with a distinctive hairstyle, while they take sun baths and relax at a rocky gay beach by the sea, and talk about “Sissies” an audiovisual project that may refer to their experiences two summers ago, the screenplay will be Nikitas´ feature debut.
Coincidentally, while I was watching the film on how to make a low-budget gay film in a location in Greece, sequences referring to Athens´ Pride included, I learned the recent good news on the legalization of same-sex marriage, in the country, the first Christian-Orthodox majority country to do so, a happy and a coherent coincidence indeed.
Panos (Nikolas Mihas) Demosthenes ex-boyfriend, and Thymios (Vasilis Tsigristaris) new acquaintance, add salt and pepper to the plot. Family issues from the hero and the hero´s friend are also shared.
Arias of Bizet’s Carmen´s L´amour est un oiseau rebell and Donizetti’s Lelisir d´amore´s Una furtiva lagrima stay with the viewer after the film messages, listed at the end.
To learn about Carmen herself, you have to watch the movie.
The film written and directed by Zacharias Mavroeidis was nominated for Giornate degli Autori Award and Queer Lion at Venice Film Festival 2023 and winner of the Prix du public at Festival Cinéma Mediterranéen de Bruxelles, 2023. It will be screened next at BFI Flare London
Review by José Mayorga , Guatemala, Central America lawyer and notary public, visual artist, and editor of El Azar Cultural, lives and works in Guatemala City. Cinema lover, curious about the possibilities life brings and eager to live the experience.
Labels: 2024, BFI Flare, drama, Greek, José Mayorga, review, The Summer With Carmen, Zacharias Mavroeidis
