“ATTENBERG” A NEW FRONTIER

“ATTENBERG” A NEW FRONTIER

Defiantly angular and decidedly abstract in its willingness to eschew a traditional narrative, “Attenberg” continues the fresh film look of Cinema Nocturna at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Every Sunday at 10 p.m. a new one opens with conspicuous pride for a week of late-night screenings.

Capping off the weekend with a Sunday night visit to Cinema Nocturna should become a new tradition for the Baked Apple’s cinema hipsters. Emphasizing way more than mere nudity, profanity and excessive violence, Cinema Nocturna leads with cleverness, quirkiness and deeper insights both philosophical and/or poetic.

This week brings “Attenberg” from Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari. That title refers to a mispronunciation of British filmmaker Sir David Attenborough’s last name by one of the film’s characters. His wildlife documentaries are a favorite of the laconic lost soul (and sexually innocent 23-year-old) Marina (Ariane Labed).

Marina’s voluntary isolation from daily life in a nondescript Greek seacoast factory town is in a way similar to the wildlife that is all around us , yet we know so little about these creatures who have no interest in our human activities.

Marina’s one friend is Bella (Evangelia Randou), about the same age but with vastly more sexual experience…at least in Marina’s opinion. The only other person we meet is Marina’s father Spyros (Vangelis Mourikis), a terminal cancer patient accepting his fate with a dispirited resignation.

Marina visits him faithfully, never talking much but being loyal in her devotion to his final days. Waiting patiently with him for death’s arrival.

This is not a film of triumph, but more of endurance portraying the daily ennui of people who only nibble at the edges of life. We can project how fear fills their daily existance. We won’t know why, but we can feel with certainty it is so.

Marina insists the idea of sex repulses her, yet she can’t stop thinking about sex. When she finally meets a man who will take a chance on her, she turns him off by describing each step of their love making.

Tsangari doesn’t help by maintaining a slow pace stringing scenes together that seem unrelated. At times the scenes themselves make no sense – such as Marina and Belle performing several routines of silly walks. Perhaps the director just uses these walks to emphasize the two friends have no interest in being practical.

Insisting on logic will not be helpful to enjoying “Attenberg.” Other critics describe the director and the film as being an important part of the Greek new wave of young directors.

If this is so, then America’s own filmmakers seem even more provincial insisting on comic book heroes and their accompanying scenes of massive destruction as the most important subject matter for their artistry.

In Greek, with subtitles.