"The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas" .

As part of my favorite unformal FORUM section of the 2013 Berlinale, the Greek Weird Wave entry was "The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas" .

It follows an aging morning talkshow host who stages his own kidnapping in order to pay off his debts and orchestrate an elaborate comeback.

Clearly a take on a country in crisis, as well as the way celebrity culture has replaced more traditional hero worship.

Without dialogue, the first10 minutes show Antonis (Christos Stergioglou), who's been a TV host since  1980s, being taken in a car trunk  to a remote luxury hotel that's closed during the winter season.

 Upon arrival, the driver and his charge unload tons of spaghetti -- a recurring visual motif -- in the kitchen before Antonis is left alone to settle in.

In a few droll, dry humorous scenes, the sad protag passes the time exploring the hotel. He is edicting his own version of a cooking program, where he tries to make molecular spaghetti; and doing karaoke by himself in the hotel disco on "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, who herself once stayed at the establishment.

But that song's credo isn't such a sure thing anymore, as the days start to drag on and Antonis has only himself for company as he bides his time.

There is a severe touch of madness at work here as he not only obsessively scans the celebrity magazines and evening news for articles about his "kidnapping" -- which, it turns out, he set up with his TV station's boss.

The irony is that a financially ruined and holed-up former star forces himself to relive a moment of past glory that already contained the seeds of his (and Greece's) doom.

If even a nation's heroes fall, what is there left for a country except for desperate acts such as Antonis'?

The final reels, which kick off with a delirious and technically impressive tracking shot a la "Goodfellas" through the hotel's now-full party hall and kitchen, suggest how far Antonis has gone off the rails.

Besides that Steadicam shot, the film is less aesthetically rigid than other recent Greek art films such as "Dogtooth," "Alps" and "Attenberg," though the 16mm lensing looks good, and the rest of the tech package is also solid.

Julio Iglesias' "Me olvide de vivir," which literally translates as "I Forgot to Live," is strategically used in a deliciously staged, entirely absurd number, suggesting the show must go on no matter what.

Camera (color, 16mm), Dionysis Efthimiopoulos; editor, Nikos Vavouris; music, Felizol; production designer, Pinelopi Valti; costume designer, Marli Aliferi; sound, Dimitris Kanellopoulos, Kostas Kouteelidakis; sound designer, Persefoni Miliou; assistant director, Katerina Barbatsalou. Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (Forum), Feb. 9, 2013. Running time: 93 MIN.