David O'ConnellEden is West
August 21st 2009 02:27
Costa-Gavras finds it difficult to sever himself from intrinsic political messages in his work, even in a gleeful adventure like his latest, Eden is West. In his hands, the odyssey of an illegal immigrant, who jumps ship when on the verge of capture by officials, becomes a road movie following a well-worn precedence - that of a chain of serio-comic misadventures for its protagonist, interspersed with colourful vignettes evolving from the people he encounters along the way.
Early on it seems as though Elias (Riccardo Scarmarcio) will be sequestered in a luxury resort off the Grecian coast. Here, he disguises himself as a lowly porter after washing up on a nearby nudist beach. With hordes of police officers on alert, escape from Alcatraz would seem a more feasible prospect. Not helping matters are the attractions he draws from a forceful gay manager and then a female German tourist who would love nothing more than a boy-toy to wile away the rest of her holiday with in the seclusion of her bedroom.
One night Elias also inadvertantly becomes an aide to traveling magician Nick Nickelby (Ulrich Tukur). It's a meeting that will propel him from this place in search of his own mythical Eden, the magician’s final words – the offer of an assistant's role should he venture to Paris – lingering in his mind with talismanic power.
Costa-Gavras’s fitfully entertaining film is an exotic romp and hard to dislike. Though it never seeks to cover fresh cinematic terrain, it retains an idiosyncratic perspective aided by the obvious autobiographical elements, relating the director's own immigration from Greece to Paris as a young man.
With its political dimensions relegated to a light-hearted backdrop, it also provides an antidote to the weightier, murkier subject matter tackled by Costa-Gavras's politically-charged films like Z (1969), State of Siege (1972) and Missing (1982).
It seems as long as he’s steering clear of flirtations with Hollywood – the most recent one producing the dire Mad City (1997) – he’s on creatively nurturing ground. Beyond the appeal of festival circuits, this is definitely a film with the crowd-pleasing potential to snare a wider audience than he's used to.
Lead actor Riccardo Scamarcio is excellent, especially considering he has to rely on spasmodic, non-verbal communication for much of the film. Elias speaks minimal French acquired from a guidebook and encounters communication difficulties wherever he goes, encircled by a melting pot of culturally diverse elements.
His quest may be pure folly but Elias is a likeable main character and you can’t help hoping it turns out for the best regardless. Unfortunately, he seems to have his alien status tattooed on his forehead in the way that every glance seems to draw the attention of the police no matter where he ventures!
The problematic, slightly incongruous injection of magical realism at the very end is bound to be the biggest talking point. You’ll either walk out shaking your head or go with it; for me, it’s a strangely satisfying final gesture and yet maddeningly ambiguous at the same time.
Early on it seems as though Elias (Riccardo Scarmarcio) will be sequestered in a luxury resort off the Grecian coast. Here, he disguises himself as a lowly porter after washing up on a nearby nudist beach. With hordes of police officers on alert, escape from Alcatraz would seem a more feasible prospect. Not helping matters are the attractions he draws from a forceful gay manager and then a female German tourist who would love nothing more than a boy-toy to wile away the rest of her holiday with in the seclusion of her bedroom.
One night Elias also inadvertantly becomes an aide to traveling magician Nick Nickelby (Ulrich Tukur). It's a meeting that will propel him from this place in search of his own mythical Eden, the magician’s final words – the offer of an assistant's role should he venture to Paris – lingering in his mind with talismanic power.
Riccardo Scarmarcio as cursed illegal immigrant Elias
Costa-Gavras’s fitfully entertaining film is an exotic romp and hard to dislike. Though it never seeks to cover fresh cinematic terrain, it retains an idiosyncratic perspective aided by the obvious autobiographical elements, relating the director's own immigration from Greece to Paris as a young man.
With its political dimensions relegated to a light-hearted backdrop, it also provides an antidote to the weightier, murkier subject matter tackled by Costa-Gavras's politically-charged films like Z (1969), State of Siege (1972) and Missing (1982).
It seems as long as he’s steering clear of flirtations with Hollywood – the most recent one producing the dire Mad City (1997) – he’s on creatively nurturing ground. Beyond the appeal of festival circuits, this is definitely a film with the crowd-pleasing potential to snare a wider audience than he's used to.
Lead actor Riccardo Scamarcio is excellent, especially considering he has to rely on spasmodic, non-verbal communication for much of the film. Elias speaks minimal French acquired from a guidebook and encounters communication difficulties wherever he goes, encircled by a melting pot of culturally diverse elements.
Elias as a reluctant magician's assistant
His quest may be pure folly but Elias is a likeable main character and you can’t help hoping it turns out for the best regardless. Unfortunately, he seems to have his alien status tattooed on his forehead in the way that every glance seems to draw the attention of the police no matter where he ventures!
The problematic, slightly incongruous injection of magical realism at the very end is bound to be the biggest talking point. You’ll either walk out shaking your head or go with it; for me, it’s a strangely satisfying final gesture and yet maddeningly ambiguous at the same time.
Elias, needing assistance wherever he goes
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Eden is West is a pretty place to go with Costa-Gavras, it just opened yesterday. Be interested to see what you think if you get a chance but there's suddenly a stack of films worth seeing out there at present!
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight