While the plot may be familiar – a Greek nightclub owner is in debt to the mob and is slowly sinking into ever worse and more frightening trouble – the moody and visually striking approach brought to it by Alexis Alexiou proves once again you can always re-tell a tale if you do it with a new voice. He also takes advantage of his nation's grave credit crisis'to create a political background of quite interesting irony to his character's woes.
Taking place largely at night, and making great use of existing artificial light (lens flairs are everywhere), this creates a dreamlike atmosphere that gives it a very subjective tone throughout. We are trapped in Stelios' nightmare, carried along by forces seemingly beyond his control. Stelios Marinas does some excellent work as the main character, and all the main supporting roles are well fleshed out too. The climactic showdown feels just a touch overblown, a bit out of sync with the lower key intensity of most of the film.
But overall this is one of those films I sort of tripped into hearing about and then made an effort to track down a copy of, ending up very pleased I did.
