“Forget it Markos, it’s Broadway,” could be a catchy tagline for Greek writer-director Christos Massalas’ offbeat debut, which takes elements from classic film noir — the femme fatale, the double-crossing, an arsenic-style poisoning — and transplants them to the seedy underworld of present-day Athens, where a gang of pickpockets operates out of a deserted theatre complex from which the movie takes its title.
Skillfully made and filled with odd surprises, including a fugitive from the mob who decides to be a woman, Broadway doesn’t exactly grip you like a first-rate crime thriller, but it does keep you guessing as to where it will go next. Premiering in competition in Rotterdam, it makes for a solid genre addition to the Greek weird wave cannon that could find additional festival play and pickups in parts of Europe.
Despite the B-movie origins of its plot, a score by Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared (The Talented Mr. Ripley) that lays on the suspense, and an adequate dose of sex and blood, this is not your typical gangster flick, nor is the group of misfits that Massalas cooks up your typical gangsters. Led by the ruthless Markos (Stathis Apostolou), who looks more like a depressed bus driver than a Fagin-style prince of thieves, the crew is based out of an abandoned theatre and rooftop cinema called Broadway, from where they hatch their scams before unleashing them on the population of Athens.
We learn all of this from Nelly (Elsa Lekakou), a saucy pole dancer who falls for Markos and becomes a key player in his swindles, performing in public while a bunch of small-time crooks lift wallets and iPhones from the unassuming crowd. But Nelly is soon caught in a downward spiral of deceit when she meets Jonas (Foivos Papadopoulos), a man on the run from local crime boss Maraboo — a character who may or may not exist — who decides that the best way to stay in hiding is to transform into a woman.
At first it seems like a gag, but as Jonas takes a liking to his new identity, which he names Barbara, Broadway evolves into a dangerous love triangle between man, woman and trans, with Nelly and Jonas/Barbara canoodling, and then some, while Markos serves a short stint in jail. When he gets out, the stage is set for a showdown that will involve, among other things, a deadly can of insecticide, a clothing store mannequin used to give a sadistic beating, a pet monkey named Lola and several exuberant song-and-dance numbers.
Massalas brings these disparate elements together in a clever and satsifying way, although you’re never exactly invested in the action in the way that certain film noirs can hold you in their clutches. Rather, Broadway sustains a tone that’s at once sordid, quirky and pulpy, as if it were the brainchild of Tarantino and Yorgos Lanthimos, and its best moments combine those two influences into a single scene — such as one where a character ominously bleeds from the nose while watching a kitschy street show worthy of RuPaul.
The cast is fully committed to their roles, forming an oddball band of outsiders that exists on the periphery of Athenian life, as if they were refugees in their own dark city. DP Konstantinos Koukoulios aptly captures the setting in a mix of shadow and stark naturalistic light, while production designer Anna Georgiadou provides smart touches to the décor, including a giant photo of Broadway and Times Square in the 1950s that looms in the background like the promise of a film noir that won’t necessarily be kept.
Director, screenplay: Christos Massalas
Cast: Elsa Lekakou, Foivos Papadopoulos, Stathis Apostolou, Rafael Papad, Salim Talbi, Hristos Politis, Nicos Arvanitis
Producers: Amanda Livanou, Bertrand Gore, Cristian Nicolescu
Cinematography: Konstantinos Koukoulios
Production design: Anna Georgiadou
Costume design: Marli Aleiferi
Editing: Yorgos Lamprinos
Music: Gabriel Yard
Production companies: Neda Film (Greece), Blue Monday Productions (France), Digital Cube, Avanpost (Romania)
World sales: Le Pacte
In Greek
97 minutes
