Morning Patrol

Nikos Nikolaidis's 1987 Greek film follows a woman trying to reach a forbidden zone in an abandoned city. Loudspeakers in the streets call for the city to be evacuated; there is nobody there, and figures called the patrol set traps. Much of the film's text is taken from elsewhere: the characters speak lines from noir novels and science fiction books, which shows that the world has lost its own language. Nikolaidis built his Athens from real abandoned places. The story does not progress and is deliberately closed. The pace is very slow and the atmosphere heavy. Who it's for: viewers interested in experimental science fiction and Greek independent cinema. Who it's not for: anyone wanting narrative, or who will find a heavy atmosphere suffocating.