Reflective Encounters

“As soon as the frame opens, the buzzing of bees immediately imprints itself on a hive composed of identical-looking female beings toiling away at digging sand tirelessly. At the heart of a meticulous visual universe, where pale colours ranging from military green to shades of beige never seem dull, director Manolis Mavris offers exquisite production values, whether it is in the finesse of the film’s technical execution or in the deep intentions behind the short.

Brutalia (Days Of Labour) showcases rich writing on the constrictions placed on human beings by society, focusing particularly on the issues experienced by women. While playing with references to the aesthetics of his fellow countryman, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mavris affirms his own capacity in pursuing his personal cinematographic journey on a darker level. Several memorable shots will remain in the mind’s eye, whether because of their magnificence or their violence, as will the score by Panagiotis Melidis (aka Larry Gus), alternating between the simple and the grandiose.

The viewer navigates the heart of a universe that’s becoming more and more distressed by its coldness, violence, and archaic practices loaded with unhealthy traditions, inevitably inviting rebellion or despair. Slowly throughout the film, both feelings smoulder inside the hive itself. Between the need to get out of the norm and the impossibility of escaping it, making a choice remains delicate.”

— Florian Fernandez