'Suntan' (2016) - Argyris Papadimitropoulos.

Hugely talented film-maker Argyris Papadimitropoulos island-set, incandescently brilliant, psychosocially penetrating 'Suntan' (2016) is a paradoxically dark, grimly unfiltered dissection of an introverted, lonely middle-aged Doctor's initially benign, but somewhat ill advised flirtation with a beautiful, beguilingly carefree, especially frolicsome girl over half his age, their playful coupling, while teasingly brief, forcefully acts as the devastating catalyst for a mid-life altering cataclysm, heralding doctor Kostis's frequently hard-to-watch, emotionally gruesome descent into a hedonistic, booze-addled maelstrom of despair, making for starkly compelling, fiercely gripping, profoundly unsettling psychodrama. 

The wonderfully naturalistic performances, and the consistently insightful film-making from Papadimitropoulos are appropriately dazzling. I went into 'Suntan' wholly blind, and this one struck home, hard, as Makis Papadimitriou's bravura performance as the increasingly distressed, emotionally crippled physician totteringly drunkenly on the tremulous precipice of murderous insanity reeks of painful authenticity; this is muscular, no punches pulled, witheringly unsentimental, anxiety inducing, Fassbinder class film-making! Another intriguing facet of Papadimitropoulos's charismatic drama is the conspicuous omission of any tangible details concerning Doctor Kostis's shadowy past, while various allusions are made to some emotional malaise, the audience is left to draw their own conclusions, which, tantalizingly, lends an additional layer of humanity to the piece, as all too much in life remains maddeningly unresolved!