Dir: Evi Kalogiropoulou | Greece 92’ 2025
Female power trumps male machismo in this wacky neon-infused Mad Max style Greek revenge thriller.
Evi Kalogiropoulou’s often ludicrous feature debut is set on a remote Greek island dominated by an oil refinery where muscle bound men hold sway jostling for position with their leader Nikos, and women tread carefully – apart from Maria, a fearless woman with a mass of black hair.
Maria is not about to be trifled with or diminished by the brutish Nikos, who has chosen her as his potential successor who is on his last legs. Nikos warns her to shape up or ship out as there are other women (and men) keen to replace her. The hierarchy is predictable: macho man, wicked mother (in law) and heroine working out how to come out on top
Best known for her music videos Evi has concocted an intoxicating syncopated score and some sassy characters. Screening in the Critics Week strand there’s plenty to enjoy visually in a film saturated with sex.
Maria (aka Gorgona) spends her time contemplating her next move which will eventually turn the tables, especially when a singer called Eleni arrives in the local bar and is immediately drawn to Maria, their growing friendship providing the film with an emotional kick.
When not satisfying Nikos, Maria is honing her body and keeps in great shape with resistance training and strutting around the streets of the hostile community where tank tops and Doc Martins are ‘de rigueur’, the lesbian and trans twist powering the narrative forward in this propulsive tale of female emancipation. @MeredithTaylor
VENICE CRITICS WEEK | 2025