‘Attenberg” opens with Bella (Evangelia Randou) giving French-kiss ing lessons to her inexperienced friend Marina (Ariane Labed). Then the two 20-something women, who live in a depressed post-industrial town, get down on all fours and growl at each other like wild animals.
A few minutes later, Marina asks her dying father if he’s ever imagined her naked. “No, never,” he replies. “I have imagined you naked,” she answers.
And so the Greek movie begins its audacious journey of sexual awakening.
If “Attenberg” is similar in style and substance to another Greek film, “Dogtooth” — one of the five finalists in the race for the foreign-language Oscar earlier this year (it lost) — there is good reason.
“With very little funding support, several young talented filmmakers are working to make an adventurous New Greek Cinema come alive, greatly bolstered by the international attention and success of double-hitter ‘Dogtooth’ and ‘Attenberg,’ notable for the collaboration of the directors,” says Jytte Jensen, a film curator at the Museum of Modern Art.
” ‘Dogtooth’ was produced by Athina Rachel Tsangari, director of ‘Attenberg,’ which in turn was co-produced by Yorgos Lanthimos, director of ‘Dogtooth,’ who also plays one of the main roles in ‘Attenberg’ ” — a stranger in town who helps Marina overcome her fear of sex.
“Attenberg” will unreel at the 40th edition of the New Directors/New Films festival. In previous years, the showcase, sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA, has served as a launching pad for Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Todd Solondz, Darren Aronofsky and others.
The 2011 edition opens Wednesday with J.C. Chandor’s “Margin Call,” which tracks 24 hours on an investment bank’s trading floor and features Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany and Stanley Tucci.
The closer, April 3, is the Tehran-set drama “Circumstance,” directed by Iranian-American Maryam Keshavarz, who was profiled in this column a few years back.
More coming-of age angst is found in Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Belle Épine.” It concerns 17-year-old Prudence (Léa Seydoux), who is having a hard time coping with her mother’s death and her father’s absence.
Other ND/NF entries include Anne Sewitsky’s Norwegian comedy “Happy, Happy”; Deron Albright’s “The Destiny of Lesser Animals,” from Ghana, in which a cop solves violent crimes as he hunts for his stolen fake passport; and Marc Fitoussi’s “Copacabana,” featuring real-life mother and daughter Isabelle Huppert and Lolita Chammah as, yes, mother and daughter.
Other films hail from China, Mexico, the UK, Canada, Australia, Peru, Romania, Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Japan. Screenings are at MoMA and Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater.
Details: newdirectors.org