Tzitzipongo, by Pavlos Sifakis (2022)

‘Tzitzipongo’ is a modern Greek Short film set on a Greek beach at the end of the Holidays. Niko (Tassos Dimitropoulos) is left with one final afternoon to connect with his grumpy son Simos (Lefteris Chatzimichail) before leaving his family to return to London for work.

The film’s premise is a little elementary and the set up lacks much depth. In between distracting calls from the office Niko spends most of the family beach day making failed efforts to win his son’s attention. His supportive wife Rea (Eva Angelopoulou) completes the picture of happy and stable family doing their best, except for Niko’s need to work away from home which has disconnected son from him.

In one last attempt to win over Simos, Niko promises to fetch him Tzitzipongo ice cream, a relatively simple task which comes undone when a phone call from work again distracts Niko, but this time leads to him missing the local shop’s opening hours. What follows is a series of unfortunate events including a run in with young pick pockets and a stolen bike which collectively leave Niko a broken man, begging for a one final chance to secure the elusive ice cream for his son.

The film takes place mostly in the bushlands behind the beach, offering a yellow tinted view into the hot and dry purgatory between city convenience and beach relaxation. Poor Niko’s plight is made the worse in knowing his family time is running out and that he is trapped in this inconvenient pursuit, unable to relax nor return a failure. The tension and scenery adds to the films watchability and the colorful cast of side characters offer useful plot points and comic relief. By presenting side characters in pairs such as the pick-pockets and later the mother and daughter characters, the film allows these interactions to bring established relationships to the screen rather than simply presenting one dimensional confrontations between Niko and lonesome strangers.

Although the story is simple and somewhat shallow, Lefteris Chatzimichail puts in a good performance and Pavlos Sifakis ultimately presents a fun and entertaining film that made me wonder what was next for the director.