Extrarradio (film)
| Extrarradio | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster for the Montecara Film Festival | |
| Directed by | Vasilios Zografopoulos |
| Written by | Vasilios Zografopoulos |
| Screenplay by | Dimitrios Laskarallis |
| Story by | Vasilios Zografopoulos |
| Produced by | ALKX PRT |
| Starring | Georgios Mellou Sofia Zografouti See: cast |
| Music by | Chryssa Vlahakou |
Production company | ALKX |
| Distributed by | Piraean Radio and Television |
Release dates |
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Running time | 104 Minutes |
| Country | Piraea |
| Language | Piraean |
| Budget | € 4,100,000 |
| Box office | € 25 million |
Extrarradio (Piraean: Περίχωρα; Gaullican: Banlieue) is a Piraean drama film produced and released in 2022. It was written and directed by Vasilios Zografopoulos, and filmed entirely in the city of Alikianos. Extrarradio follows the life of two young adults in their 20s, which live in buildings of the periphery of Alikianos separated from the core of the city by a motorway, as the two explore love, heroin and their own sexuality in the decade of the 1990s and the heroin crisis that bursted in poor and middle class neighbourhoods of the city.
The film received favourable critics, although it was seen as a crude picture of the time and lives of young people in the 1990s, a decade of democratic openness and economic liberalisation, but also harsh social contrasts and a lack of opportunities.
Plot
The film begins following Vasilios Kormatos (Georgios Mellou) from behind while crossing the bridge that connects Alikianos with the social housing neighbourhood of Agios Gerasimos, separated in by the A1 motorway, the first ring road of the city. In his walk, Kormatos salutes friends and passes by rubbish and heroin addicts, before finding his girlfriend Eva Pipoti (Sofia Zografouti) at the entrance of his building. The two kiss, and Vasilios invites Eva to his family's apartment to salute his mother, although she says that prefers to continue to her home. The film continues showing the lives of the two in their homes, portrayed as the classical units of the complex: minimum measures apartments of crowded buildings overlooking the motorway.
In their homes, Eva has to confront the reality of a mother, who is addict to both stimulants and muscle relaxants drugs, and a small brother of 6, whose care is carried mostly by Eva while her mother works most of the hours of the day in a bar downstairs. At the same time, Vasilios lives with his violent and machist father, a taxi driver that prefers to spend most of the day and night in front of the wheel, his mother, sister of 17 years old and grandmother, who is always talking about going back to her little town in Lampi. The two, tired of their own realities, spend most of the time together thinking of the ways to escape from their homes, although the lack of money and opportunities in Alikianos, is often perceived as an obstacle, together with the bond Eva has with his brother, and Vasilios his mother and sister.
The situation becomes unbearable for the two, when Vasilios hears his sister crying with their grandmother, after Anna Kormatos (the sister; Dafni Mira) confesses her father tried to abuse her; hearing the excuses of her grandmother, Vasilios leaves running, escaping the situation and trying to find an unreachable Eva. At night, trying to go back to his apartment, Vasilios feels the guilt of having escaped, and feels stuck to go back, becoming a recurring topic in the development of his character. It is when he is stood on the bridge over the motorway, when, while overlooking the cars pass and the identical apartment blocks, he decides to try heroin for the first time.
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