Part of "Worlds Apart: The Films of Athina Rachel Tsangari," a retrospective of the Greek director's films presented by Acropolis Cinema and MUBI and running from April 17 through mid-May at 2220 Arts + Archives, Vidiots, and the Los Feliz 3
Six men set out on the Aegean Sea aboard a yacht, and before long, male bonding and one-upmanship give way to a loosely defined yet hotly contested competition to determine which of them is “the best in general.” As the games and trials grow more elaborate and absurd—everything is up for judgment, from sleeping positions to cholesterol levels to furniture-assembly skills—insecurities emerge and power relations shift. As in her breakthrough Attenberg, Athina Rachel Tsangari balances anthropological precision with a wry and wholly original sense of humor. Impeccably staged, crisply photographed, and buoyed by eclectic soundtrack choices (Petula Clark, Mark Lanegan), this maritime psychodrama becomes both funnier and richer in its implications as it progresses. What begins as a lampoon of bourgeois machismo and male anxiety develops into an incisive allegory for the state of contemporary Greece, and leaves a final impression as an empathetic, razor-sharp study of human nature itself. (Film at Lincoln Center)
TRT: 105 min
In person: Athina Rachel Tsangari
"Striking... Tsangari's deadpan approach to the increasingly sociopathic behaviour of the sextet is perfectly judged." —Wendy Ide, Observer
"Scene by scene, it builds a vision of group dynamics as calm, violent and finally unyielding as the sea." —Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times
"Chevalier emerges as that fascinating and seemingly paradoxical thing: a feminist film in which women are virtually absent from the screen." —Erika Balsom, Sight and Sound
"Like a black comedy feminist Deliverance, Athina Rachel Tsangari finds lying within the cracks of masculine performativity an inherent struggle with the omnipresent 'threat' of the feminine." —Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, The Blue Lenses
"No less than Claire Denis, Tsangari is interested in the rituals and ridiculousness of men in groups... Anybody who doubts that [Chevalier's] trivial pursuits belie a cutting, Buñuelian subtext should watch the final exterior shots carefully." —Adam Nayman, Cinema Scope
(Available to download after screening date)