I saw Dead Europe today. I had seen the trailer by coincidence and I found it interesting enough since I follow the things going on in Europe and especially in Greece (I'm Greek). Also I was very curious to see the point of view from an Australian/German/Jewish director for the state of things here, since Australia is so far away. For me the movie is 10/10. In the beginning I had my doubts about the plot and the connection director had made between the story of the main character which seems to be a reference to the Greek cultural traditions and the myths (villages, well-hidden secrets, family relationships etc.) and the economical and political crisis. I expected it to be much less than what it actually is. It is a very serious, important and true movie.

Those who lusted after Alex Dimitriades masturbating in 'Head On' may be interested in another adaptation of a Christos Tsiolkas novel, 'Dead Europe' - and they'd be disappointed, at least if they're watching it purely for the totty value. Once again it's set in the Greek community of Australia, as a self-obsessed photographer takes his father's ashes back to Greece. Once there he finds himself haunted by a mysterious boy and gradually uncovers a mystery involving his father's activities during World War Two. It's not a bad story - I'd watch the film again - but there's no-one particularly attractive in it, neither physically nor emotionally (I'm not *that* shallow!)

The first fiction feature film from Tony Krawitz (The Tall Man, etc), Dead Europe is an adaptation of the 2005 novel by Christos Tsoliakis (The Slap, etc). Following the suicide of his father, gay photographer Isaac (noted theatre actor Ewen Leslie)decides to return the ashes to his ancestral homeland in Greece. But his journey reveals some dark secrets about his father's history and a supposed curse. As he tries to unravel the dark and troubling secrets of his father's past life Isaac travels from Greece to Paris to Budapest. Isaac also meets the troubled Josef (Kodi Smit-McPhee), an illegal refugee in hiding, and tries to rescue him from his harsh environment. Isaac also catches up with his estranged brother Nico (Marton Csokas), and is drawn into an underworld of pornography and sex slavery. This is a bleak and dark vision of contemporary Europe in crisis. Dead Europe explores themes involving death, family secrets, the ghosts of the past shaping the present, the inherent racism and anti-Semitism of Europe, the nature of guilt, and the sins of the father being visited on the son. Krawitz brings an outsider's perspective to his vision of Europe, and shows us visions of cities that are rarely experienced by the average tourist. You can almost feel and smell the physical and moral decay of the place. This dark and disturbing drama has a suitably grimy visual surface and slowly mounting sense of dread. There are a couple of confronting scenes. Cinematographer Germain McMicking uses hand-held camera and works in close-up to disconcerting effect.

One of two Australian made films I saw at the Sydney Film Festival, both of which were set in Europe. Ewan Leslie was very good in the lead role as was Marton Csokas in a minor role late in the film, but the same can not be said for the actress who played the main characters mother. She seemed very poorly cast (age wise) and did not give a very consistent performance, as scenes with her felt very uneven.The film was shot well and in places not often seen in predominately English language films and the first half really set up the mystery and thriller like aspect, but it was let down badly by a very poor last third as it fell into an incoherent confusing mess, but maybe that was intentional as the character fell into that cycle himself.It was just very meh.