Director Alexis Alexiou's Tale 52 is a visually gritty film that rests somewhere between psychological drama and fantasy thriller. Iasonas, a timid young man, meets his future girlfriend Penelope at a dinner party with mutual friends. Some time later, he wakes up one morning to discover that Penelope has gone missing. Unable to understand or reconstruct what has just happened, the already insecure and delicate Iasonas falls into a world of anguish, confusion and subsequent delusions.
Tale 52 tells a strange story about the beginning and end of a relationship, focusing on the themes of obsession and lost love. We witness Iasonas's struggle to overcome his various imperfections and crippling lack of confidence as he attempts to rediscover and, with any luck, win back the love of his life.
The majority of the film takes place within the claustrophobic limits of a small apartment and the building's dilapidated underground parking lot, a setting that effectively mirrors Iasonas's feelings of entrapment and isolation. Alexiou maintains a rigorously subjective point-of-view, keeping the chain of events uncertain, and resulting in a narrative that is wholly disconnected from objective reality.
The film does a remarkable job of enhancing the protagonist's consuming sense of self-confinement. By shooting in a widescreen aspect ratio, unusual for a story mostly set in a cramped apartment, Alexiou further illustrates Iasonas's loneliness. Likewise, the film's 16mm footage gives the visuals an uncompromising, expressionist look. After adjustments to colour, contrast and texture were made through a digital intermediate process, the resulting image was printed to 35mm, achieving a truly hypnotic, sensational and suitably unconventional look for a film of this unique quality.
Dimitri Eipides
Alexis Alexiou holds a degree in physics from the University of Athens and has also studied cinema in Greece. His short films include Tugo Tugo (98), Clark Kent Is Superman! (00), Remember Me? (01) and Aristides Alopekas (03). Tale 52 (08) is his feature-directing debut.