Nikos doesn't really care about anything - until his father dies and he is suddenly on his own. His uncle takes him to live with him in the capital, which is at least as exciting as it is disturbing for Nikos. There he gets a job that suits him well: Nikos has to look after two purebred dogs - the neighbors are after them ...
War zone on the outskirts of the city. Main enemy: the hunchbacked relatives. Preferred weapon: screaming attacks and sheer insidiousness. Yannis Ekonomides has been cultivating this brutally crude tone since his Matchbox (Spirtokouto, 2002). In the Cypriot-born filmmaker's Greece, everyone picks on each other. What is new for Ekonomides in Knifer (Macherovgaltis) is this very distinct visual splendor, like calm in rhythm, which is at odds with the intensity of the story. It points to a moral that is older and greater than what is going on in the heads of these industrious builders of their own hells. Beauty is, and sometimes against all odds.
Yannis Ekonomides was born in 1967. He studied directing in Athens and made short films (including Stadiaki veltiosi tou kerou, 1992; Just Feeling the Jasmine Scent (Mono myrizontas giasemi, 1994)). His first feature film was Matchbox (Spirtokouto, 2002).
