User Reviews

Before I get to why this movie didn't work for me, I should mention that I adored the opening scene set in Athens. Athens has never looked better, it was really well paced and it gave me a Dark Knight vibe. It was an incredibly opening and made me very hyped for the rest of the film

Boy, I was in for a shock!

The pacing of the film almost instantly dies after we cut to the island where most of it is set. Very little happens for the first half of the movie and in the midst of all these rather dull scenes of people doing very little are random biblical recreations that just come across as pretentious for the sake of being pretentious.

The main character, Elizabeth, is incredibly unlikable despite a good performance from the actress.

Then about halfway through, stuff starts happening when one of the characters mysteriously seems to have committed suicide on a beach. Its a good hook for the story however it happens way too late into the film and all the investigation really is, is Elizabeth finding a DVD explaining EVERYTHING (including some rather unpleasant and graphic sex scenes) and her reaction is to threaten a sexually abused women on a beach with a gun.

The idea of a classic murder mystery with a damaged protagonist and a darker twist dealing with dark themes like sexual assault is not inherently a bad idea for a film but it is poorly handled and very unpleasant as well as badly written and downright odd in some cases (like a random scene where Elizabeth's son is harassed by a guy and then is never brought up again.....what!!!)

Some may like it, I didnt!

Pros: 1. The opening was brutal, impactful, and it does a good job at immediately grabbing the viewers attention. 2. The cinematography is incredible and is helped enormously by the beautiful natural scenery. 3. There are great performances by Angeliki Papoulia (Elisabeth), Youla Boudali (Rita), and Hristos Passalis (Manolis). 4. The score does a fantastic job at enhancing the wonder, action, ominous foreboding, and every other tone featured.

Cons: 1. The pacing is far too slow, and the movie is inundated with scenes that either last too long or that are wholly unnecessary. 2. The sub-plots belonging to Rita and Elisabeth respectively feel haphazardly stitched together. It's really jarring at times. 3. None of the characters are likable or interesting which makes it difficult to care about what's transpiring. 4. The symbolism sometimes takes precedence over the substance and the story. 5. The reveal of Rita as the killer is neither surprising as no one else had motive, nor impactful as you care nothing for the characters, and it's also poorly built-up to. 6. Some of the side-plots introduced are never expanded upon and go nowhere. Two examples would be Rita's visceral religious visions and Elisabeth's kicking out of Athens because of her illegitimate son.

The cinematography is good and the opening scene was pretty decent but that's all I can say is good about it.

The story is boring, the plot doesn't get going until half way through, the main character is really unlikable, some of the storylines go absolutely nowhere (the director himself even had no intention for them as proven by his q&a at the BIFF), for a mystery the mystery is solved really easily in one of the most distasteful scenes in any movie I've seen... And I could go on.

Avoid at all costs.