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Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelia Randoy, Yorgos Lanthimos, Giorgos Lanthimos ... see more see more... , Evangelia Randou

Part of the new wave of Greek cinema, Attenberg is an offbeat coming-of-age film. 23-year-old Marina is living in a small, factory town by the sea where her once-visionary architect father, has return... read more read more...ed to die. Finding the human species foreign, she keeps her distance, choosing to observe mankind through Sir David Attenborough's mammal documentaries and the songs of Suicide. While preparing for her father's impending death, Marina discovers her own sexuality through lessons from her only friend, Bella, and a visiting engineer. Equal parts abstract theater and melodrama, Attenberg sincerely and humorously navigates the defining moments in life. -- (C) Strand

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52% liked it

1,647 ratings

Critics

80% liked it

35 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Athina Rachel Tsangari

Release Date: March 9, 2012

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DVD Release Date: June 19, 2012

Stats: 56 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (56)

  • gator681
    March 11, 2012
    gator681
    "Attenberg" starts with Marina(Ariane Labed) and Bella(Evangelia Randou) kissing each other. Calm down! It's not what you think. Marina is just curious to learn about kissing from her more experienced best friend but is none too thrilled with the experience and wonders if she,... read more in fact, might be asexual.(In all honesty, I don't care for French kissing, either.) Anyway, Marina has more serious things to worry about like her father Spyros(Vangelis Mourikis), an architect, who is seriously ill. At the end of the day, she still has to go to work where she drives around an engineer(Giorgos Lanthimos).

    Some might be disappointed that the wild, woolly and thoughtful movie "Attenberg" has little to say on the current crisis in Greece but it still has plenty to say about the country, starting with Spyros' rant about Greek history and also in what little future he has left, as corpses could not be cremated in Greece until very recently, which leaves his decision to be a final act of defiance.(From what I learned online, the Greek Orthodox Church feels it defiles the body but then they started to run out of room in the cemeteries. See, you learn something new everyday.) For Marina, she is having her first experiences with sex and death, as her conversations with her father have become very frank indeed(I personally do not want to think of my parents having sexual organs, and I don't think many other people do.) but still has plenty of time to play with her best friend(there are occasional intervals with them doing silly walks which simultaneously divert us and them) and watch nature documentaries.
  • Nutterjr
    April 1, 2012
    Nutterjr
    From a country that is trying to rediscover itself politically, financially and ecomonically come a string of films (films such as Attenberg, Dogtooth, Alps, L) that share a common style: they all feel to be void of the human emotional undercoat and delivering quirky, and somewha... read moret perversively captivating material that might seem disjointed for those looking for a conventional storytelling but is rewarding for those who are looking for alternative manifestations of them.

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Critic Reviews

Walter V. Addiego
April 20, 2012
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

Tsangari's art-house minimalism, which never lets us forget we're watching a movie, still permits a surprising degree of tender emotion. Full Review

Sheri Linden
April 5, 2012
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times

Using occasional song-and-dance numbers with a melancholy Godardian kick, [Tsangari] creates a world that's off-center and alive with loneliness. Full Review

Stephanie Merry
March 30, 2012
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post

Part of the film's success comes from Labed's performance as Marina, who infuses all that weirdness with a barely there vulnerability. Full Review

A.O. Scott
March 8, 2012
A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Attenberg" is a three-layered love story, anatomizing the mysterious emotions of grief, friendship and erotic attraction. Full Review

Karina Longworth
March 6, 2012
Karina Longworth, Village Voice

A cracked coming-of-age tale set in a fading Greek seaside town. Full Review

Anthony Lane
March 6, 2012
Anthony Lane, New Yorker

In that isolation, and in the marooned hopelessness of the protagonists, there is a hint that normal life may have become too much to cope with, and that its rules of engagement need to be learned afr... Full Review

Boyd van Hoeij
February 23, 2012
Boyd van Hoeij, Variety

Attenberg remains a captivating and vaguely disturbing experience throughout. Full Review

Duane Byrge
February 8, 2011
Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter

Attenberg is distinguished aesthetically by cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis eye for both the beauty of coastal Greece and the hideousness of its mineral factories, conveying, like the film itself, t... Full Review

Rick Groen
January 21, 2011
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

What a strange, moving, puzzling, funny, frustrating and ultimately absorbing film this is. Full Review

Jason Anderson
January 20, 2011
Jason Anderson, Toronto Star

The film succeeds not only as an idiosyncratic spin on the coming-of-age story but a wider comment on what it means to be fully human and fully alive in an age of diminished expectations. Full Review

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