Attenberg

Filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari's Attenberg opens with an awkward kiss between virginal 23-year-old Marina (Ariane Labed) and her more experienced friend, Bella (Evangelia Randou), before establishing that Marina is just trying to learn how to perform a simple act that other adults take for granted. With her terminally ill-architect father, Spyros (Vangelis Mourikis), in and out of the hospital, Marina is largely on her own in their dank seaside town, and her knowledge of life—culled from the nature documentaries of Sir David Attenborough—proves insufficient (Bella mispronounces his name "Attenberg"). When she isn't visiting Spyros or working as a driver-for-hire, Marina and Bella act like overgrown kids: singing, spitting off balconies, and insulting each other. Marina also likes to play foosball at the hotel restaurant where Bella tends bar. Although she tells her father that she doesn't desire men or women, Marina hits it off with a visiting engineer at the bar (Giorgos Lanthimos), who also likes the art-punk band Suicide. In its odd mix of minimalism and seriousness, Tsangari's work feels like a Greek version of Miranda July's, with whom the filmmaker shares a background in performance art. Attenberg may not be as funny as a July film, but it's every bit as quirky, which makes for some decidedly uncomfortable, if also occasionally poignant viewing. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)