He
looks vaguely Minotaur like, which is appropriate, since he is Greek. However,
the only labyrinth is in your head. Don’t worry, the narrative is never crass
enough to interfere with the dreamlike vibe of Angelos Frantzis’s Symptom (trailer here), which screens
during the 2016 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival.
Something
awfully tragic must have happened to generate the bad karma plaguing this dark,
rainy un-Mykonos-like Greek isle. A mysterious horned figure seems to have the
power to drive men mad. Only the solitary, purposeful woman seems immune to his
influence. She will try to take charge of the situation, but the rest of the
islanders are a rather sad and disorganized lot. Regardless, some sort of
confrontation will be inevitable once we deduce the two mystery figures have
some shared history buried way back in their pasts.
If
Greek cinema makes you think of the arty indulgences of Yorgos Lanthimos and
Athina Rachel Tsangari, Symptom is
not the film to disabuse you of your stereotypes. This is a murky, standoffish
film that prefers give dark portents of horrors to come than stoop to any bourgeoisie
genre goings-on. You have your horned man and Sisyphean scenes of the woman
struggling to claw her way up a gravelly rock face. All will be hinted at
during the late second act flashback, but it would be an exaggeration to say
anything is revealed.
By
now you should have a general idea how you would respond to spending eighty-seven
minutes with Symptom. In all honesty,
it will make many viewers nostalgic for Lost
Highway, because Lynch’s opaque film at least had some get-up-and-go.
