An... (2012) Online

Being a Greek myself i must say i'm pretty disappointed by Greece's efforts towards the seventh art the last couple of decades. Unfortunately Greece's golden age, in my opinion, stopped at late 70's to early 80's. However this, i must say, is a sparkle in the mud of the industry. Christoforos Papakaliatis being a director, writer and leading actor did a fine job being all three of them. He conducted a modern movie touching sensitive matters in Greece nowadays, like unemployment does, mixing them with the never aging love cliché. What matters in the end are the emotions you have leaving the movie, and those were strong.

Christoforos Papakaliatis manages, in the darkest days of the Greek cinema, to deliver a great film that succeeds in touching the most sensitive side of the audience. Although the idea is simple and the resources used on it are minimum, yet the result is great. The acting is very good from all the actors participating and the story focuses on the lives of two young men (Dimitris and Christina) who meet in two parallel universes under different circumstances. In the first story their love is fierce and undeniable, yet they experience problems because of the economic crisis and these have an impact on them. But what *IF* they were met under different circumstances?

Papakaliatis directs this film with nerve and great talent using minimum resources but the result is magnificent. The stories take place in Athens' oldest area, Plaka and they are connected to an old film of the '60s titled "I Gini na Fovite ton Andra" which is an all time classic of the Greek Cinema. This genius connection further assists in the atmosphere and the emotional response of the audience to the protagonists' lives. Overall, this is a great film and a bright shine in the dark period of extremely low quality productions we currently live in.

In his "Notebooks", the famous conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler doesn't make much effort to conceal his dislike for Art critics. He likens the creator of Art with Faust and the critic with Mephistopheles, saying about the latter that, whatever is born of love, he considers worthy of extinction! He also notes that the main concern of the critic is to identify the "errors" in the work of Art, often failing to recognize the greatness of a true masterpiece.

Furtwängler's remarks came to my mind while observing the anxious efforts by movie critics to discover and point out the "errors" in "An...", the first feature film by Greek director Christoforos Papakaliatis (Greece, 2012). I must confess that I myself entered the theater with reservations. Would this prove to be just another cinematic experiment from one more director of television shows who fails to see the difference between the two-dimensional flat space of TV and the much more complex space-time of the cinema?

The result of the "experiment" was a pleasant surprise! We saw an authentic cinematic creation, skillfully directed and possessing a brilliantly self-consistent (albeit not entirely original) script worked well in the details. With regard to the central idea of the film, the influence from the now classic "Sliding Doors" (1998) is more than evident. Like the latter film, "An..." is a cinematic allegory on the "butterfly effect", that is, how a seemingly insignificant detail may dramatically change the order of things and the fate of people. We thus watch two alternative versions of reality evolve in parallel in time by means of two different dominoes of causality.

One basic theme is romantic relationships and their test against deterioration caused by the everyday routine in a typical marriage. Reference is made, of course, to the current economic crisis, this being one of the catalytic factors affecting relationships. Eventually, the film leaves it upon the viewer to decide which version of reality suits best to her/him, hinting, however, at the more optimistic choice (remember "Sliding Doors"!).

We left the theater with feelings of internal catharsis that any true work of Art must induce. Leaving behind for good the painful memories from the merciless (albeit directorially brilliant) "Amour" that plainly shows brutal reality without the much-needed psychological balance offered by the potentially alternative...

Finally, a decent mainstream Greek movie and by that i mean a movie that hasn't artistic pretensions, i.e. isn't difficult to watch, her message is understandable and deals with everyday matters that concern everybody. I confess that i wasn't excited about Papakaliatis previous work in television, but this was a fine surprise!

I also loved the reference to the golden age of the Greek cinema by the clever association with a well known and beloved,old Greek movie, that will unfortunately be lost to foreign audiences.

As mentioned by others here, the movie owes an artistic debt to "Sliding Doors" the 1998 movie by Peter Howitt, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, as it deals also with the effect that individual choices have on our future reality, no matter how insignificant they seem at the time we are making them.

Seriously underrated film.

The best film I've watched in a long time.

Everyone must witness this! The characters, narration and cinematography superbly told this clever and engaging story.

It will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

Greek films are known for being witty and entertaining but this goes a step further for the Greek film industry.

This should be a guaranteed Oscar win. It's about time this Greek film genius is recognised.

It will have you addicted and on the edge of your seat from start to end.

Seriously don't miss out seeing this beautiful film. Your life would be better for it.

Watch it now!

Although the protagonist is a leading TV-actor in Greece, it is the first time I watched him playing. Adored with exaggeration by young women for his tear dropping series about twisting and twisted love stories, and equally avoided by men. So my girlfriend had to really try in order to convince me watch it. Two low budget conventional love stories achieve what the big budget tiring Cloud Atlas could not do: Attach you to the characters, play with the idea of love through the multiverse and make you philosophize about what is predestined in your life and what is not. All this is pictured just within the context of modern bankrupted Greece. Congratulations to Papakaliatis for his simultaneous effort as writer, director and main character, but also for the achievement to reunite G.Konstantinou and M.Kontou incarnating for the 2nd time their most memorable characters.

But the movie is still slow, but not necessarily boring.

What does fate hold for you ... well you find out one idea through this story. Same guy ... two different decisions. One decision causes him to suffer loneliness and pain but he finds a reward at the end. The other decision causes him to find a reward at the start but eventually causes him to suffer pain, conflict, and loneliness.

So what does this say about fate? Absolutely nothing ... in my view. Either way whatever decision you make the result is the same - you just don't know in what order you will experience it.

So la-te-da!

"What If" is a parallel drama romance movie in which we watch a man who at a certain moment of his life he has to choose a path that will change his life forever. He has a female German Shepherd that wants to be taken out one night. The choice is very simple, if he goes out that night he will meet the love of his life and if he stays in he will not meet her.

I liked this movie because it's a good greek movie that despite the low budget and the difficulties, Christopher Papakaliatis succeed in presenting a simple good movie. At this point, it has to be mentioned that the plot we have already seen it in the movie "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow so, it was not a surprise. I liked the interpretations of Marina Kalogirou who played Hristina and Christopher Papakaliatis who played Dimitris. The direction which was made also from Christopher Papakaliatis it can be considered very good if we compare it with other greek movies.

Finally, I have to say that "What If" is an average movie with no many surprises and also a medium plot. It's not something extraordinary or something that we haven't seen before, it has a simple plot with some good interpretations and an average written script. If you want to watch this movie just don't expect much from it and don't have high expectations or hopes because for the greek standards is considered a good movie but in general is just another greek average movie.

a beautiful film. that is its fundamental virtue. and the motif for ignore the few errors. image, montage, music, story, the explore of different universes, the manner to create the lead characters, the splendid science to transform a not complicated story in a lovely film. a film with many references to contemporary problems and , in same measure, delicate analysis of a couple life in two interesting art of detail. a film about life, choices, happiness and Greece. the last thing, in strange way, does its message universal. but its beauty is not only artistic. it has the rare gift to become a form of experience. because it reminds small details from every viewer 's life. and that detail does it convincing at all.

slow challenge. because it propose an old idea who, for many viewers it is seductive, fantastic and good refuge for moments of reflection - if the life was different. the virtue of What if... is the delicate measure who defines the answer. the love story, the happiness, the fight for be yourself and protect the significant the other are present and use in smart manner. and each of them does the movie as support of reflection more than artistic movie. because the mixture of crisis, the desire to remind small ordinaries truth, the atmosphere who reminds the air, spirit and fascinating beauty and poetry of the Balkans cinema are the most important pieces of a film about life in direct, honest manner. a film about choices. the final of each of choice is far to be surprising. but that is the good point. because the film remains vehicle of a delicate emotion who rediscover importance of small truths.

Well,i have seen also other projects of Papakaliatis and i must admit that he is truly talented in cinematography,montage,directing,really sparkling up all hiς characters an always tend to create great and memorable films. In this movie is doing again the same,the beautiful same,he has great photography of Plaka Athens,an interesting story of parallel universes and also an original one,a speed directing with Hollywood touches just to remind us of how he likes to copy/paste the all American great romance movies,the bonus material for sure is the reference to an original and classical romance story,a great Greek comedy called "Well the woman to be afraid of man" which is a phrase from Orthodox Greek weddings. The two stars Kontou and Konstantinou really steals our hearts with their heart full performances. The only disadvantage i believe is,once more,the of papakaliatis to be also the start of ALL of his movies. Fail for sure cause finally he must understand that he is a terrible actor,a terrible one. He is real a great talent but really christoforos,go along with it,you can do everything and i personally respect you for that but YOU CAN NOT ACT. Never the less a great effort of Greek cinema,you have my 7 out of 10 which could be even higher if he not had the obsession of doing EVERYTHING in his movies. Watch it!

Nice shots,great photography and great soundtrack, but very excessive movie.Some scenes of the same with Kalogerou,especially those with romance or erotic fights,it's like they have come from old TV series.I found it better than I expected,but not very mad about all this fuss has been made.It may be better than average commercial films,but it is not a movie that will remain etched in the viewer's mind for long,but not mean it's a bad movie and not pleasantly flowing time.

The story is familiar to the viewer and touching situations experienced both couples today and the economic and social crisis facing the country.