Neubauer Studios Features Greek Foreign Film ‘Gorgona’ – Mermaids And Strong Dudes

It is pronounced “Gorgona“, as if Evi Kalogiropoulou were declaring her willingness to question the classic, but without betraying it, through a film spanning a time span from patriarchy to the future. Filling her images with alternative references to classic scenes, she creates a world where a beloved cinema of the past and a fertile mutation of it into a contemporary postmodern version merge. Because precisely this reformation of the classic into modern forms could also be a definition of the postmodern.

And indeed, the images that emerge from this mix constitute the film’s power. The careful selection and configuration of the setting, the flood of neon, Aspropyrgos between “a disgusting industrial refinery area and a magical landscape of the future”, the dreamy exoticism next to earthly vulgarity, compose small paintings. To be precise, small video-art films, each of which could claim a prominent place in a relevant exhibition. The landscape would be defined on the one hand as a battlefield, on the other as a love bed. Between these contrasts, in the pollution, in the barren expanse and in the diffuse – almost indefinable – threat, hope sprouts, when through the relationship of two women in love, the patriarchal structures of a world that is leaving are questioned.

In the same land, Eleusis, once of the mysteries and the worship of Demeter and Persephone, now oil drills and war. In the “next” world, the subversive action of the two women, of erotic origin, will remove things from dystopia, restoring the right order, as revealed in the final shot.

If we were to look for the cause of the decline of an entire planet, we would find it in deep cultural roots, where patriarchy was establishing its own kingdom, replacing the matriarchal tradition. By building violence with material, mother earth was gradually replaced by father war. And if things continue on this path, then we will arrive at a “Mad Max ” future. The heroes of the film fight for a “handful” of oil, like in a western. The two protagonists try to save the planet from the cliff, with the power of love as their weapon.

And since we are talking about authoritarian mechanisms, how could ancient tragedy be missing… Starting from pagan rituals, we move on to the confrontation par excellence of man with power. The ritual movements of drama and dance are also renewed, without losing their character. The military, almost dance-like, movements of the exercises resemble those of the cinematic archetypal “Eudokia“

To a certain extent, the monsters from Damianos work  continue to live, on renewed terms. Their animalistic erotic drive, however, is distinguished by a willingness to redefine, as we pointed out from the beginning: everything around changes, and everything remains the same as the singer says.

Because in the film’s finale, one could read the installation of a new mechanism of power. Even if the director avoids pointing out the constant danger that arises from every form of power, we cannot ignore the fact that any mixture, even that of images, requires a careful proportion to reach a palatable conclusion. Otherwise, it seems like we are using excellent materials for a hangover.