What binds us to one another? This question is central to the filmmakers of the Greek Weird Wave, a group of writers and directors whose work is characterized by an unsettling deadpan tone. Underlining the absurdities of social structures and cultural traditions, the protagonists in this collection are invariably engaged in an awkward struggle against the communal roles that have been assigned to them.
In Yorgos Lanthimos’ inventive and moving Alps (2011), offbeat performances denote social relations emptied of emotion. The film imagines a world that closely resembles our own, a world in which love can only be bought or sold—to give it away is to risk sending the whole commercial enterprise crashing down. Free displays of affection are so rare that they become an obsession for the peculiar protagonist in Babis Makridis’ stylish portrait of alienation, Pity (2018). Overwhelmed by uninvited overtures of concern and care, this anxious family man must navigate complex rules of etiquette to get the empathy he craves. He would not be out of place among the men in Athina Rachel Tsangari’s intelligent comedy of manners Chevalier (2015), whose idea of a good time with friends is to engage in a series of challenges designed to determine who is “the best in general.” In Apples (2020), Christos Nikou wonders what it would be like to opt out of these strange social games altogether. Set during an amnesia epidemic, the bittersweet comedy examines characters who are freed from all emotional attachments. These films open our eyes to the preposterous nature of certain social customs by pushing them to their ludicrous ends. Could a new civilization, based on love and freedom, be born from the ruins of the old?

What binds us to one another? This question is central to the filmmakers of the Greek Weird Wave, a group of writers and directors whose work is characterized by an unsettling deadpan tone. Underlining the absurdities of social structures and cultural traditions, the protagonists in this collection are invariably engaged in an awkward struggle against the communal roles that have been assigned to them.
In Yorgos Lanthimos&#8217; inventive and moving Alps (2011), offbeat performances denote social relations emptied of emotion. The film imagines a world that closely resembles our own, a world in which love can only be bought or sold&#8212;to give it away is to risk sending the whole commercial enterprise crashing down. Free displays of affection are so rare that they become an obsession for the peculiar protagonist in Babis Makridis&#8217; stylish portrait of alienation, Pity (2018). Overwhelmed by uninvited overtures of concern and care, this anxious family man must navigate complex rules of etiquette to get the empathy he craves. He would not be out of place among the men in Athina Rachel Tsangari&#8217;s intelligent comedy of manners Chevalier (2015), whose idea of a good time with friends is to engage in a series of challenges designed to determine who is &#8220;the best in general.&#8221; In Apples (2020), Christos Nikou wonders what it would be like to opt out of these strange social games altogether. Set during an amnesia epidemic, the bittersweet comedy examines characters who are freed from all emotional attachments. These films open our eyes to the preposterous nature of certain social customs by pushing them to their ludicrous ends. Could a new civilization, based on love and freedom, be born from the ruins of the old?

Social Animals: Greek Weird Wave

SOCIAL ANIMALS: GREEK WEIRD WAVE

What binds us to one another? This question gnaws at the filmmakers of the Greek Weird Wave. With their protagonists engaged in an awkward struggle against the communal roles assigned to them, the films in this collection explore social structures and cultural traditions in all their absurdities.

What binds us to one another? This question gnaws at the filmmakers of the Greek Weird Wave. With their protagonists engaged in an awkward struggle against the communal roles assigned to them, the films in this collection explore social structures and cultural traditions in all their absurdities.