Soul Kicking

‘The water calls. It's a long time since anyone drowned.’
(Woyzeck)

In January, I wrote about Spirtokouto (Matchbox), an impressive first film from Yiannis Economides. Now, here, at Greek-Movies.com, it’s possible to watch the Cypriot filmmaker's second film, made in 2005, Η Ψυχή στο Στόμα (I Psychi sto Stoma – known in English as Soul Kicking).

Soul Kicking is even bleaker than Spirtokouto, depicting a world in which human relations have broken down and all that's left is violence, brutality, selfishness and loathing.

The film opens with a line from Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck (1836) – 'The water calls. It's a long time since anyone drowned' – and indeed Economides' film is a reworking of the play, which follows the tragic demise of an abused and harried man made insane by the obscene society in which he lives and is driven towards a sacrificial murder.

The very talented Erikkos Litsis, who had the lead role in Spirtokouto, stars again in Soul Kicking. In the clip from Soul Kicking above, Takis (Litsis) is called round to deal with a family dispute, but it's too much for him.

Also, here’s an article (in English) from 18 months ago about the new wave of Greek filmmakers.

This blog, in Greek, has more information on Yiannis Economides' films.

I should also mention that Spirtokouto can now be seen here, with English subtitles.