Ballad for a Pierced Heart

In a small Greek town, amorous passion collides with greed and the bodies start piling up. Economides' most operatic film — loud, dark, blackly comic, and completely committed to its own internal logic. It is not for everyone. The tone shifts between farce and tragedy without warning, and the film seems to enjoy the discomfort this causes. But if you surrender to it, there is something genuinely wild and alive here that Greek cinema rarely permits itself. Became a surprise box office hit in Greece despite — or because of — its refusal to behave.