‘From the Edge of the City’ Tells a Timeless Urban Tale

“From the Edge of the City” is set in today’s Athens but could just as easily take place in Los Angeles or any other metropolis that attracts immigrants seeking a better life. The title of Constantinos Giannaris’ raw, brutal yet lyrical film refers to Menidi, a community of Pontians, Greeks who emigrated to Russia, settling along the Black Sea, but have now returned to their ancestral homeland to face hardship and discrimination.

You won’t see the Parthenon in this movie, and in fact Athens looks and feels a lot like L.A., where some people have plenty of money but more have very little. Sasha (Stathis Papadopoulos) is a rugged 17-year-old who arrived in Greece at age 10. He’s frequently overcome by memories of running free with other youngsters over rural fields in Russia yet is attracted to the glittery, fast side of urban life with its treacherous lure of maximum cash for minimal effort, which has become his goal.

No student, he’s fed up with the grind of working in construction and becomes part of the world of sex and drugs along with many of his pals. We learn that he’s been working as a male hustler since he was 13, and now his older friend and mentor Giorgos (Dimitris Papoulidis) wants him to become a pimp.

Sasha and Giorgos are sparring partners and take pride in staying in top shape, and not just for appearances: They must be prepared to defend themselves or enforce their will at any moment. They also live hard, with a lot of partying, lots of women and late nights. Drug dealing--and using--goes hand in hand with life in the fast lane, but Sasha resists the hard drugs enslaving his friends.

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The turning point arrives when he takes over prostitute Natasha (Theadora Tzimou) from Giorgos because he feels she’s become too emotionally involved with him. Natasha is apparently an illegal immigrant, which means that she’s a virtual slave to be exploited sexually for maximum profit. Sasha accepts the realities of the system, but since both he and Natasha are young and beautiful the question becomes whether Sasha can keep emotion out of their relationship. Indeed, can he stave off all human feelings, which he must do if he is not to cross Giorgos, who has the eyes of a dead man and is unmistakably ruthless?

Because Sasha is as reflective as he is charismatic, it is not hard to become involved in his fate and that of Natasha. Principal among Sasha’s pals are his likable neighborhood sidekick Cotsian (Costas Cotsianidis), who’s beginning to be more in demand as a hustler than Sasha because he’s younger and newer to the streets; and Panagiota (Panagiota Vlachosotirou), made vulnerable because he may be gay while his hustler pals revel in their machismo.

There’s something of the young Robert De Niro in Papadopoulos, with his direct gaze, looking out at a harsh world with eyes that are still full of innocence and longing yet register the wounds of a brutal, hardening existence. “From the Edge of the City” bristles with an energy and passion intensified by Akis Daoutis’ driving hard-rock score. Constantine Giannaris has made sharp and fresh a story both timeless and universal.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: language, drug use, prostitution, violence; a scene of sensuality.

‘From the Edge of the City’

Stathis Papadopoulos: Sasha

Dimitris Papoulidis: Giorgos

Natasha: Theadora Tzimou

Costas Cotsianidis: Cotsian

A Picture This! Entertainment release of a Mythos production in association with Rose Bud, Hot Shot Productions and the Greek Film Center. Writer-director Constantinos Giannaris. Producers Dionysis Samiotis, Anastasios Vasillou. Cinematographer George Argiroilliopoulos. Editor Ioanna Spiliopoulo. Music Akis Daoutis. Costumes Sanny Alberti. Art director Michalis Samiotis. In Greek and Russian, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Exclusively at the Nuart through Thursday, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-6379.