Xenia
[Palm Springs International Film Festival 2015 report]
Considering that XENIA is something of a mashup–family drama, ethnic plight expose, gay fantasia, straight love-and-singing-competition story–this mostly Greek-language road trip works surprisingly well. Trapped in the underclass of Greek society, Albanian sandwich slinger Ody (Nikos Gelia) and his reckless, slightly unhinged gay teen brother Dany (Kostas Nikouli) embark on a mission to win the Greek Star contest and to find the man who may or may not be their deadbeat Greek dad. The results, vacillating like the theater masks between kitschy fun and potential tragedy, won’t solve Greece’s problems but are engaging enough for two hours to help you forget yours. –YSM