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Peppermint

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

An album of photographs, even those of a family we don't know, makes us remember our own situations and the experiences that affected our entire life. It is not necessarily the most important events. Very often the first scenes that come to mind are simple images, moments, sounds and smells of our childhood and adolescence. So we can all recognise and remember our own images and feelings.

Stefanos pulled out his first tooth by tying it to the doorknob with a piece of string. His mother told him that if he threw it on the roof tiles a raven would bring him a ring. But he didn't wait. He stole it from his Aunt Venetia's jewellery case and promised it to Marina, his first cousin. Kiss-kiss, the grown-ups told them, but the cousins kissed on the mouth. Only during their adolescence things went too far. They had to break up. They went their own ways only to meet again at the death of Stefanos' mother, 30 years later. They'll certainly have a lot to say to each other.

Starring Georges Corraface as Stefanos at 45, Giorgos Gerontidakis-Sempetadelis as Stefanos at 11, Anny Loulou as Stefanos' mother, Alexandros Mylonas as Stefanos' father, Tassos Palatzidis as Marina's father, Markella Pappa as Marina, Zoe Voudouri as Aunt Venetia and Nikoletta Vlavianou as Marina's mother. Written and directed by Costas Kapakas.

Cinematic intelligence sources

Awards and film fesitvals:

Fort Lauderdale Film Festival 2000: best director, jury award
Thessaloniki Film Festival 1999: best actress, best debut film director, best fiction film, best screenplay

NB: Greek language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Palace Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Sweet vanilla.

Peppermint is only superficially similar to Say it isn't so in that they both have a subtext of incest. In the latter it's all a mistake (and therefore funny), in the former it's fate (and therefore tragic). That kind of sums up the difference between Hollywood and European film, doesn't it?

I had absolutely no idea what Peppermint was about when I saw it (apart from being made by a Greek guy) so I had almost no expectations whatsoever. Usually, I have seen some of the propaganda and maybe found some pictures for you to look at and I've set up a preview page, and the invitation to the preview screening always has some sort of spoiler on it, but this time my brain was tabula rasae. What a delight to fall into the film and let the currents carry me along. It's the ideal way to watch a film. Peppermint flows back and forth between a turbid present and a limpid past.

The older Georges is the clearly the creation of his youth, while young Giorgos is not even the creation of his family, he's a rare individual who uses his life as he sees fit. The best way to describe Giorgos' performance is to compare him to Jamie bell in Billy Elliot. That is a very big comparison given that Jamie is incomparable, but if anyone is going to stand in the same spotlight, it's going to be Giorgos. Young, talented, beautiful, he is the centre of attention for every scene in which he appears. I actually felt sad when Giorgos grew up and became a teenager.

Costas has created a film of great sadness and equally great beauty. The sense of lost youth, lost innocence and broken hearts suffuses Peppermint with a rosy glow. It's like sitting in front of an open fire on a cold winter's night, feeling the heat thawing your toes and travelling up your body until you're dozing off, staring into the glowing embers. No matter how long you nap you'll wake feeling snggly bugly, ready to curl up with someone tall and sweet.