Pity aka Oiktos, written by Efthymis Filippou and Babis Makridis, directed by the latter - Nine out of 10

Pity aka Oiktos, written by Efthymis Filippou and Babis Makridis, directed by the latter

Nine out of 10

Though less famous for those who are not within the circle of cinematic professionals than Yorgos Lanthimos, celebrated for the triumphal The Favorite, Efthymis Filippou has collaborated on the scripts of Dogtooth aka Kynodontas – reviewed at http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-kynodontas-aka-canin-aka.html - The Lobster - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/note-on-lobster-written-by-efthymis.html - and The Killing of a Sacred Deer - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-killing-of-sacred-deer-written-by.html

Indeed, very early, if not from the start, Pity strikes one has having the same strange, outré atmosphere, bizarre characters, aloof manner, absurd attitudes as in the aforementioned, acclaimed movies and the undersigned was thinking that Greek filmmakers might follow in the footsteps of Lanthimos and Filippou, when watching this feature on Cinemax, before looking it up and finding that it is actually written by one of the famous two screenwriters.

Yannis Drakopoulos is remarkable as the Lawyer, the main character of this narrative, married to a woman that is in a comma, about whom people ask, including the Dry clean shop owner aka Makis Papadimitrou – in his turn, excellent in the leading role of Suntan - http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/04/suntan-written-with-syllas-tzoumerkas.html.

The Lawyer has a son with whom he tries to continue a ‘normal’ life, although it seems as strange as it can be, even when they play badminton or something close to it, under the sun, on the beach, or when a neighbor brings in an orange cake, a few times, before she stops, only to have this weird man ask for a cake, when the woman says she has had no time, he insists, is told again about the duties the neighbor has, only to arrive at the door and demand, again, for the cake!

The sadness, gloom of the movie is somehow, to some degree, attenuated by this absurd, dark humor, such as the continuation of the cake episode, wherein the main character talks to the daughter of the ‘baking woman’, asks to see the mother, insists on having a cake which could be ‘baked now, for he can wait’ and when the woman says that she has to take the girl to the school, the hero still does not get it and she has to close the door in his face…

Once in a while, the Lawyer talks to his father, known as Grandpa, and here this is not clear for this viewer- would this descend into sheer horror, or is it just the sick imagination of the antihero, who has images of Grandpa, killed, most likely stabbed, with pools of blood under the deck chair on which he sits, in front of a fantastic, panoramic vista…

Actually, most settings are phenomenally beautiful, perhaps in order to contrast even more with the grim reality of this depressing man, with sunny views of the sea, beautiful architecture, at times monumental, modern, splendid…

The hero tells his father about the dog they have, an intelligent, beautiful shepherd of some kind, who, according to her master, ever since the Wife has been sick and in a comma, she comes to her side of the bed and indicates with the paw that she misses the sick woman…when the accident took place, it seemed that the bitch has had a premonition of some kind.

However, perhaps the most gruesome, terrifying side of this peculiar, cruel, ultimately vicious man is exposed when he takes the dog in a speedboat, somewhere far from the shore, only to return without her and then we have a view from the sky, perhaps from a drone, which shows the poor animal swimming desperate in circles…

Will she die in the sea?