Kala azar (2020)

Directed by: Janis Rafa | 92 minutes | drama | Actors: Penelope Tsilika, Dimitris Lalos, Tasos Rafailidis, Michele Valley, Maria Aliferi, Lenika Arfani, Martin Benge, Errika Bigiou, Adrian Frieling, Pavlos Kourtidis, Nikos Pantelidis, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos

How do you shut down a stuffed chicken coop? By having a wind orchestra perform there. While this sounds like a botched joke, it’s one of the few funny scenes in the gritty, depressing ‘Kala azar’, arguably already the most unsanitary movie of the year. ‘Kala azar’ is an almost plotless film and is – on paper – about the relationship between humans and animals in an unspecified environment somewhere in Southern Europe, most likely Greece. There are two main characters we follow throughout the film, lovers, colleagues (Penelope Tsilika and Dimitris Lalos), but thanks to the sparse dialogues and the sometimes distant way of filming, we can’t get a grip on them.

The couple (he somewhat resembles a young Willem Dafoe) works for an animal crematorium and drives a car past customers to collect deceased pets for cremation. The pet owners sign a contract, they are told that the animals will be cremated separately. Uh-hu. Afterwards, the man and the woman return the jars of ashes. In addition to the animals being paid for, the couple can’t bring themselves to leave the animals by the side of the road, so they regularly stop to pick up a hit animal. Love speaks from those actions, yet ‘Kala azar’ does not manage to move.

That is probably due to the filth that is displayed in many scenes. Penelope has a few scrapes on her knee (probably from a roller-skating accident), which she picks at, rubbing unabashedly in her mouth if a bit of food is left in it; a man brushes his dog’s teeth with his hands; a woman takes a bath with her dog. Food is prepared and eaten in the midst of insects, slobbering dogs and carrion. And do you remember that “Friends” episode where Monica gets a jellyfish bite and Chandler comes to the rescue? Here you see a similar situation, but in all its glory.

Fortunately, in the face of all that filth, ‘Kala azar’ offers a lot of visual splendor. Unusual camera positions and special stagings ensure that the film occasionally pulls you out of the daze, where the monotonous story introduces you without any problems. An enchanting green lake, a nighttime shot with lights that turn out to be eyes, beautiful cactus fields, there is plenty to enjoy besides the creepiness. That makes ‘Kala azar’ not recommended – but if you want to see a film to talk about and which you will not soon forget, then this Greek film (Winner IFFR 2020 KNF Award) should quickly be on your watch list.