Review of Attenberg (2010) by Nguyen Thuy H — 22 Nov 2013

A comparison with Haneke is, in my humble opinion, absolutely out of the question.

My hypothesis is that Athina Rachel Tsangari comes as a hybrid of Giorgos Lanthimos' Kynodontas (2009) and Chantal Akerman's Les rendez-vous d'Anna (1978), the first one thematically, the second one visually.

The thematic connection can be drawn from the condemnation of the 20th Century as a "remnant of toxic modernism of post-Enlightment"; Kynodontas condemns the post-industrialist current reality almost as much as Attenberg does. The concept of a family isolated from civilization and unleashing uncommon behaviors as an integral part of their personalities is another similarity. All of these elements play part in an absorbing environment of dredd and hopelessness.

The visual connection, on the other hand, can be found in the loneliness of the characters mirroring the suddenness of Anna's meetings in Akerman's alter-ego character study, with a striking cinematography depicting natural landscapes, industrial scenarios and domestic settings, and portraying sexuality in a timid/experimental way, yet with the erotic curiosity found in Kynodontas.

Bottom line is, what fascinates me about cinema is the amount of ways that an idea can find to be expressed throughout the decades, and still maintain its essence. It's like having a visitor at home, and then receiving the same visitor unexpectedly many years later. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, you can still recognize him, because he hasn't changed a bit.

97/100.