"Apo Tin Akri Tis Polis" or "From the Edge of the City" refers to "Menidi", a poor suburb on the edge of Athens, where many Cosssack Greeks live. They are called "Pontoi", ethnic Greeks from the Black Sea dispersed through the ex-Southern Soviet Union in the Stalin era. The Pontoi returned to Greece en masse after the fall of the USSR. Parents speak mostly Greek, but the teenage children speak a hybrid Russian-Greek language reflecting their lack of identity and marginalization in Greece's xenophobic society. The film is about hunky 17 year-old Sasha (Stathis Papadopoulous), a part-time construction worker and "rent boy" prostitute (since age 13) with Greek god looks. He is surrounded by all kinds of horrors: a father who slaps him around, a mother who weeps, junkie pals, and whores with black eyes. One of his friends is Giorgos (Dimitris Papadoulidis), an older pimp (maybe 20) who struts around in black T-shirts and lets Sasha have his prize whore, Natasha (Theodora Tzimou), so that Giorgos can buy another. In addition, there's a group of boys and girls whose lives are touched on. The best of this ragged lot is the only real gay character, Panagiotis (Panayiotis Hartomatzidis) , who sets Sasha straight on the subject of their evening occupation. Fearing that Panagiotis' has become so enamored of one of his patrons that he's getting fucked, Sasha says "You're a rent boy, not a faggot who takes it up the ass." Panagiotis, more cynical than his pal, replies, "Get with it. What's the difference?" Sasha's marginalization is the film's theme: the life of petty crime and prostitution which second or third class Greeks lead as Cossack Greeks.
"Από την άκρη της πόλης" purports to be an insider view of a tribal urban culture, but it's impossible to care much for these brats. For some viewers it's a tantalizing male flesh parade. Sasha's interest in boxing, for example, comes out of nowhere, simply an excuse for him to strip down. A shower scene with Sasha and Giorgos is also gratuitous. On the plus side, some of the dialogue has a charm very well suited to the subject. During one of Sasha and Natasha's jaunts through town, their cabbie neatly summarizes the film's worldview: "You go to a whorehouse and all you fuck is imported cunt. You want Greek pussy, you gotta mortgage your fucking house." Trickery saturates this film, everything from zooms and pans to blackouts that chop a scene to bits. Most annoying is a camera that tears through the landscape so fast the background becomes a blur. In one scene , Panagiotis is standing with a trick in a living room looking at the beautiful ocean view. Suddenly he disappears. Gay director Constantine Giannaris, a former male hustler himself, started out to make a documentary but eventually opted for a quasi-fictional feature. He also wrote the script. The English title is "From the Edge of the City".
"Από την άκρη της πόλης" purports to be an insider view of a tribal urban culture, but it's impossible to care much for these brats. For some viewers it's a tantalizing male flesh parade. Sasha's interest in boxing, for example, comes out of nowhere, simply an excuse for him to strip down. A shower scene with Sasha and Giorgos is also gratuitous. On the plus side, some of the dialogue has a charm very well suited to the subject. During one of Sasha and Natasha's jaunts through town, their cabbie neatly summarizes the film's worldview: "You go to a whorehouse and all you fuck is imported cunt. You want Greek pussy, you gotta mortgage your fucking house." Trickery saturates this film, everything from zooms and pans to blackouts that chop a scene to bits. Most annoying is a camera that tears through the landscape so fast the background becomes a blur. In one scene , Panagiotis is standing with a trick in a living room looking at the beautiful ocean view. Suddenly he disappears. Gay director Constantine Giannaris, a former male hustler himself, started out to make a documentary but eventually opted for a quasi-fictional feature. He also wrote the script. The English title is "From the Edge of the City".
