Dead Europe (18) 84 mins ***
Though it’s not quite in
the same league as last year’s knockout one-two of Snowtown and Animal Kingdom,
this adaptation of a novel by Christos Tsiolkias (The Slap) provides further notice of the Australian cinema’s
new-found boldness. A gay photographer (Ewen Leslie) heads to Athens to scatter
his Greek Orthodox father’s ashes and discover his roots; instead, he stumbles
over the knots and tangles of a continent-spanning network of prejudice and
exploitation. Footage of the austerity protests lend it an of-the-moment vibe,
but essentially it’s a historical horror movie, turning on the snapper learning
what’s been polluting his bloodline. The film’s restlessness – schlepping from
one Mitteleuropan hellhole to another, like a morbid-minded tourist – saps some
momentum, but director Tony Krawitz pulls off several unsettling moodshifts,
and takes extremely seriously the old-world traditions and superstitions a
gruefest like Hostel could only sneer
and snigger at.
Dead Europe opens in selected cinemas from today.
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