WORLDS APART Film Review – Love in Trying Times

Greek actor/director Christopher Papakaliatis’ award-winning feature film, his second—WORLDS APART—which was a big box office hit in Greece, will open in Chicago at the AMC River East 21 starting Friday, Feb. 3

Romeo & Juliet and other loves in a time of political cholera

If you are seeking a movie to escape the political turmoil of our times, WORLDS APART isn’t your show…

Then again, it could be just what the Cinema Gods have ordered to help us get past the headlines and remember the humanity that powers them.

WORLDS APART takes us to Greece now or in an imagined day very soon. Immigrants are streaming in. They come from Syria and beyond. They are fighting to survive.

The Greek natives view them with a jaundiced eye. They have enough on their plate already, with the austerity measures imposed on them by their northern European neighbors.

Sounds all too familiar, perhaps. Filmmaker Christopher Papakaliatis takes us a level deeper though.

How does that normal force of life—the drive for love and for connection—thrive and survive in this context? Through the peephole of three sets of lovers, or would-be lovers, Christopher Papakaliatis gives us a guided tour of humanity at its best and worst.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADB7iCm-zRU[/embedyt]

Love story triptych

The three couples have one thing in common—one of the lovers is an immigrant or foreigner. From different generations, although in the same streets, they seem to inhabit different worlds.

Described as a triptych, the story does tie the three vignettes together. This reviewer almost gasped with the first moment of recognition as to how this bow would be tied.   Don’t misunderstand and don’t fear another too-neatly-tied Hollywood ending.   It strikes exactly the right note of loose ends and newly made knots. The Greeks, after all, invented tragedy and also gave us EROS, the God of Love.

Tight script, excellent acting

The actors are perfect fits for their parts. The BIG NAME is Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons, and indeed his blue eyes absolutely do light the screen.

No fat in the script and with seemingly perfect editing—this is a film that lets you really linger with its story.

For now, your ideology is a good predictor of how you will view WORLDS APART

This is not a film that is likely to change anyone’s life or viewpoint on the global immigration crisis. This reviewer suspects that anyone who is more turned off by recent protests of Muslim immigration bans than by the Executive Orders that spawned them might be downright insulted by the ideological frame of the filmmaker. For the rest of us, viewing WORLDS APART is time well-spent.

Written and Directed by:                  Christopher Papakaliatis

Produced by:                                      Christopher Papakaliatis, Dorothea Paschalidou and Kostas Sousoulas

Cinematography:                               Yannis Drakoularakos

Editor:                                                 Stella Filippopoulou

All images and clips courtesy of Cinema Libre.

Amy Munice

About the Author: Amy Munice

Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.

Amy hopes the magazine’s click-a-picture-to-read-a-vivid-account format will nourish those ever hunting for under-discovered cultural treasures. She especially loves writing articles about travel finds, showcasing works by cultural warriors of a progressive bent, and shining a light on bold, creative strokes by fledgling artists in all genres.

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