When a skateboarder does a 180, they spin themselves so they’ve switched sides. That’s clearly the aim of the Greek film industry, which is on the rise as each Greek Film Festival in Australia gains better attendances. 2010 was no exception as films on offer included local smash Nisos, war drama Heart and Soul and 180 Degrees, a tale of how a simple half-spin can turn someone’s life completely upside down. But for all the metaphor the title suggests, the film itself doesn’t turn nearly as far.

Anna (Panayiota Vlanti) is over her marriage to art dealer Giannis (Vladimiros Kiriakidis) and doesn’t know how to get out. That is, until burglar Vasilis (Mihalis Marinos) tries to steal a Van Gogh painting and after she stops him they are forced to flee together. It turns into a multi-hybrid of part road-story, part cops-and-robbers, part romance, and part excruciatingly cheap comedy… as they manage to evade the influential Giannis and his henchmen (yes he has goons), their relationship blossoms among the beautiful Greek backdrop. And it is truly beautiful – wondering what you’ll see next becomes more interesting than the story itself and that’s credit to some nice, if predictable, cinematography. Shaped as more a comedy than anything else, what’s missing from this film is an instance or two of reality settling in – a lack of anything sinister. It definitely tries, but one or two scenes thrown in seemingly randomly won’t help the cause. Instead director Nicholas Dimitropoulos and writer Giorgios Andreou prefer the direction of hamming it up completely, bringing in the juvenile nephew Manos, who adds nothing to the chase except a lot of idiocy and irritation. But in an odd way Dimitris Kouroubalis steals the show from Vlanti and Marinos because of it. He delivers a line involving fetta cheese so well to save the film (and Andreou’s first script) from being a complete bomb.

Both writer and director are new to the game – Dimitropoulos’ first and only previous feature was Alter Ego (GFF 2007, with Greek superstar/Eurovision favourite Sakis Rouvas). His film-making style isn’t consistent and for the most part it fails him; romantic/scenic scenes are fluid enough but those juxtaposed against others leave you confused because they don’t make sense or add anything to the film. What he aims to do with this is make you think that something so ridiculous can be a life-changing event when, really, a 180 spin is just turning around – and halfway at that. It’s an excuse to put up a good-looking couple on screen and have a few canned laughs as they go on an adventure of self discovery. Because that’s what the film’s about if you get down to it: out with the old and in with the new – but then it becomes in with the old again. It resorts to a drawn-out and predictable plot because of a lack of story detail, characters that serve no overall purpose (notably Nikoleta Karra as Giannis’ pouty, sex-crazed secretary/mistress Elena) and having potentially charismatic leads stumble their way through their escape.

Verdict

180 Degrees really doesn’t move past 90; it’s neither here or there.

180 Degrees screened as part of the 17th Greek Film Festival across Australia.

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