Strella

This is the first Greek film I've had the privilege of watching. It is also the best film I've watched this year.

For me the film is about families, and how we cope when we find ourselves outside of traditional structures (of course there probably never was such a thing as a traditional family). Although many of the films characters are LGBT I would not describe this as being an LGBT film. The characters may be gay or trans, but it is simply a facet of them, mentioned in passing, and not their core identity.

There is a big twist in the middle, and my initial reaction on seeing it was that it really spoilt the film. However, 10 minutes later to my surprise there was another twist which pulled everything back perfectly. Not many screenwriters can manage to pull off something as complex as that.

Mina Orfanu is wonderfully cast as Strella. This is not an easy part to play and she carries it off with great alacrity, despite not being a professional actress.

It is a great achievement that, despite the sometimes extremely dark subject matter I left this film with a big grin. If only Hollywood would make films like this!