MICHALIS REPPAS, THANASIS PAPATHANASIOU

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB

Original title:  Oxygono

Greece, 2003.  Mega Channel, FilmNet, Greek Film Center, Graal, Odeon, Safe Company.  Screenplay by Thanasis Papathanasiou, Michalis Reppas.  Cinematography by Lefteris Pavlopoulos.  Produced by Elena Hatzialexandrou. Music by Nikos Kypourgos.  Production Design by Antonis Daglidis.  Costume Design by Evelyn Sioupi.  Film Editing by Ioanna Spiliopoulou.  

A freak car accident that permanently cripples a father and kills one of three children wreaks havoc on the lives of surviving members of the family in this Greek melodrama. Years later, Magda initiates a real-estate nightmare when a property that is meant for her eldest, married daughter Yiota is in the position to be redeveloped. Greedy son-in-law Stelios does his best to make sure things go his way by blackmailing a city official with whom Yiota’s younger brother Christos is having an affair.  Naughty sexual behaviour is pretty much a staple of this Almodovaresque film, along with the characters’ colloquial potty language, and while its abrupt ending keeps it from being great, it is involving and the characters strangely appealing.