Wasted Youth (2011) Reviews

• Two stories in an ordinary day in Athens

  aristofanis2011-11-18

  Two seemingly unrelated lives in today's Athens are narrated in Wasted Youth in a span of less than 24 hours. Haris, a 16 year old, spends his time aimlessly on a skateboard while his parents are mostly unaware and indifferent of his whereabouts. He hangs out with friends in Syntagma square, sleeps at a family friend's house in Kifissia and listens to hip hop music. His failed advances towards his girlfriend do not keep him from finding a new pastime with his friend who works at a photocopy shop. Together, they spend the evening tagging stickers allover the city that say "Wasted Malaka Youth" (Malaka=wanker, jerk). Meanwhile, Vassilis, a policeman, is exhausted and stressed from his night-shifts while he refuses his friend's precarious proposal to open a pizza place. Condemned into his suffocating central Athens apartment where he lives with his wife, daughter and mother in- law, he is overwhelmed by tension. Argyris Papadimitropoulos and Jan Vogel paint a city and country in crisis -which is decisively a moral one- through the story of two individuals. It is a brilliant movie which unlike many Greek movies of the past 30 years, has pace, dialogues that convince and children that actually act! Even though there is a documentary feel to it, the film is very beautifully shot with scenes that vary from a sunset on Philopappou hill to the dark highways of suburbia. Despite the overall pessimistic view of the film, it is loaded with laughter. The wedding scene is reminiscent of Bunuel and Fellini. In a somewhat sacrilegious way, I dare to say that Wasted Youth is the Greek Dolce Vita! 9/10

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• this slight film deals with some universal themes

  gregking42012-06-09

  Wasted Youth is inspired by a true incident that occurred in Athens when a 15-year old student was shot and killed by a policeman in the summer of 2008. Haris (Haris Markou) is a typical teenager, who likes wasting his time by hanging out with his friends rather than getting a summer job. The teenagers at the centre of the film spend a lot of their time skateboarding, hanging out, drinking, partying and disrespecting their parents. Meanwhile, Vasilis (Ieronimos Kaletsanos) is a cop who is angry at the world and resentful of having to do three straight night shifts. Haris and Vasilis are on a collision course that will have tragic consequences. One can see where Wasted Youth is headed, but the writing and directing team of Argyris Papadimitopoulos (Bang Bang) and cinematographer Jan Vogel mishandle the ending, which leaves audiences feeling vaguely dissatisfied. Although set in Greece, this slight film deals with some universal themes, and some familiar ideas. However the filmmakers get the vibe just about right. They also manage to work in some topical comments about the financial crisis that has left the country a virtual economic basket case and has added to the frustrations felt by the characters. The filmmakers have cast the film with largely non-professional actors who improvised their dialogue. This brings authenticity to the material. As the hedonistic slacker Haris, Markou has a natural and appealing presence and provides the film with a strong central focus. Also the superb cinematography from Vogel and Manu Tilinski brings the sweltering city of Athens alive.

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• Obnoxious, irritating wannabe teen film

  Filippos012013-05-30

  I was deeply disappointed with the film. It felt all through the "naration" that it was trying to take commercial advantage of the horrific events that really happened with Alexis and his shoot-down by cops in Greece few years ago which begun the riots in Athens. No story to follow, no characters to explore, just a camera following without any reason or emotion or plot or anything at all. When the film at last ended I couldn't believe that I was watching all this nonsense story for no reason at all & it's a shame that they cloned/copied Alexis's real story just to visit a few festivals. It's probably one of the worst films I've ever seen.And it came as quite as a surprise, since the creators have done very good films on the past.

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