In the turbulent coming-of-age road movie "Xenia", two brothers set off in search of show fame, their father and a Greek passport.
As a viewer, you don't need to know that "Xenia" in Greek stands for the virtue of "hospitality", which has been cherished for thousands of years, to enjoy the film of the same name. Greek director Panos H. Koutras likes to play with cross-references to Greek mythology, as he did in "Stella", his first film about a transsexual sex worker, but he is always very close to the here and now.
"Xenia - a somewhat different odyssey" therefore begins with a proper blow job. Dany, not quite 16, as he always emphasises, is a precocious slut. His hair is a little too hydrogen-blonde, he has a lolly perkily perched in the corner of his mouth and has to keep his constant companion - a white rabbit called Dido - in check. And if you like such absurdly weird scenes: There are plenty of them in the two hours of cinema that follow. Koutras' drama, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, is actually about tragic characters and life stories against the backdrop of an economically shattered Greece.
Absurdly weird scenes
Dany (Kostas Nikouli) buried his mother, a failed Albanian singer and alcoholic, on Crete less than a fortnight ago. His Greek father absconded ages ago. Dany's brother Odysseas, called Ody (Nikos Gelia), ekes out a living in a fast food joint in Athens and is dreading his approaching 18th birthday. When they come of age, the brothers automatically lose their residence permit. Going back to Albania is not really an option, even if they are not always met with hospitality as immigrants in Greece. And Dany, with his anything but reserved outfit (including piercings, muscle shirt, dog collar and a penchant for pink clothes). He also knows what it feels like to be mobbed and beaten up as a gay man.
The future in Greece looks anything but rosy for Dany and Ody, but Dany has a plan: he wants to convince his talented brother to take part in the TV talent show "Greek Star" in Thessaloniki and in the meantime set off to find their father. Because if he recognises their paternity, they can look forward to a Greek passport. The fact that the man Dany believes to be his mother's unfaithful ex-lover now has a new family, is very rich and is also a politician from a right-wing party doesn't necessarily make things any easier.
Squeaky colourful dream sequences
However, this gives gay filmmaker Panos H. Koutras plenty of opportunities to set highly dramatic scenes alongside bizarre situations. But there are also show and music numbers, including a guest appearance by Italian San Remo Song Festival legend Patty Pravo. And because that's not enough for him, there are also colourful dream sequences in the style of Pierre & Gilles. In these scenes, monster-like rabbits can talk and Dany cuddles up on an equally monster-like oversized hairy chest. With a running time of 124 minutes, "Xenia" is a little long. This hardly matters in view of the entertaining wealth of ideas and the complexity of this somewhat different odyssey.
"Xenia". Greece/France 2014, with Kostas Nikouli, Nikos Gelia, Yannis Stankoglou, Marissa Triandafyllidou, Aggelos Papadimitriou. 124 minutes.
