FILM COMMENT SELECTS 2012: Critic's Notebook
21.05.12
FILM COMMENT SELECTS 2012: Critic's Notebook
by Vadim Rizov
Alps begins with a rhythmic gymnast (Ariane Lebed) facing off against her coach (Johnny Berkis). She wants Euro-trashy club music to soundtrack her ribbon-twirling; he insists on the deadly backing of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana” (its opening movement, "O Fortuna," is a staple of movie trailers). The bulky trainer threatens to break her arm the next time he questions her musical judgment. "You aren't ready for pop," he tonelessly declares.
Is writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos ready for pop? [ Listen to our podcast .]
Alps , his follow-up to the extreme dark comedy of 2009's
Dogtooth , shares several quasi-joke touchstones with its predecessor: violence against women, incest and psychological terrorization, all committed with blank disaffection. Both films take place in a budgetary universe far from Hollywood, but that
Source: GreenCine