An outbreak of amnesia unfolds in an ahistoric, analogue Athens in Christos Nikou’s stylish tale – a fitting opener for Venice film festival’s Orizzonti sidebar On the opening day of the Venice film festival, the arrivals are struggling to get their bearings. Things don’t work the way they did in the past. There’s a booking system to contend with and a mask policy to observe. We don’t know the names of many directors on the programme. We can’t recognise our friends and colleagues behind their myriad face coverings. It’s the 77th edition but it almost feels like the first. The new normal is weird; it’s going to take some getting used to. If the Venice selectors were looking for a fitting film to open this year’s Orizzonti sidebar, they could hardly have done better than Christos Nikou’s splendidly poignant and creepy Apples. As luck or fate would have it, this is a pandemic drama of sorts, spotlighting an outbreak of amnesia that afflicts the people of Greece. With a neat stylistic flourish, Nikou sets his tale in an ahistoric, analogue Athens, modern on the surface yet seemingly in thrall to cassette decks and instant cameras. At a time when memories are wiped and histories erased, physical media perhaps provide a crucial link with the past. Continue reading...
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