anywhere out of the world: Harvest - A rather indigestible parable

Harvest - A rather indigestible parable about capitalism and globalization

That Harvest often proves to be unusual should not come as a surprise, as Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari is known for cultivating the art of the bizarre, as seen in Attenberg, her most well-known feature film.

Athina-Rachel Tsangari is a Greek director whose film Attenberg, featuring Ariane Labed and Yorgos Lanthimos, made waves among cinephiles.

Harvest, her new film, the first she has shot in English, offers a quirky immersion into a world before the industrial revolution, where sunsets and animal life abound.

Should we absolutely see in her latest film a mirror to our modern world, in which the terms of Liberty, equality, fraternity seem increasingly inadequate, and where capitalism devours everything in its path?

Yes, if one wishes.

But it is primarily the timeless atmosphere that one remembers, almost medieval, like a painting by Brueghel that would come to life..

A sumptuous nature and men and women who live in harmony with it, without social strata.

But that cannot last long, even when one is wary of 'foreigners.'

While the director's staging can be praised, even with some mannerist aspects, the choral nature of the ensemble distracts attention, while the voiceover proves unnecessary.

The length is excessive as well and largely dilutes the stakes.

Adapted from the eponymous novel by Jim Crace, released in 2013, this film is satirizing the present world, while it's political and poetic about a bygone era, capturing the moment of transition into a form of rural capitalism.

Athina Rachel Tsangari introduces her very personal touch into this nearly western with fable-like qualities.

But it’s a shame that it contributes to leaving us with a more than mixed overall impression.

The camera, tired from incessantly shaking, is placed just anywhere, in order to give the 'actors' (who are visibly bored) time to deliver the snippets of information that the screenwriter realized were missing for understanding this simplistic plot.

They didn't even bother to show these so-called peasants how to use the slightest tool (ha! plowing with a foot-pushed scratch plow!) and these miserable hermits who have never seen the sea are eating scallops to the sound of violins!

Aside from these ridiculous moments, it’s a surreal, bucolic, dark film, an UFO carried by the irresistible Caleb Landry Jones, even if sometimes on the edges of overacting.

Discovered last year in competition at the Venice Film Festival, 'Harvest' is a kind of tale about the loss of innocence and the transition to capitalism.

A sun-drenched parable where capitalism strolls into the vineyard wearing designer sunglasses, steals the grapes, and then invites you to the tasting — for a fee.

Workers bend, sweat, and laugh in the golden light, but the laughter has that faint aftertaste of someone else’s profit.

The camera lingers on hands, faces, and the quiet hum of labor, until you start to wonder: is this a celebration of the harvest, or a very polite hold-up?