‘Guest Star’: Thessaloniki Review

Dir/scr: Vasilis Christofilakis. Greece. 2023. 90mins

In Guest Star, Loukianos Asvestopoulos (played by writer-director Vasilis Christofilakis) is now a grown man having once been once Greece’s ’most famous baby’ thanks to his film star parents being the sort of Greek equivalent of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Even now they are dead, they are still a dominant presence in an impoverished life that has been marked by depression. When he is suddenly offered the chance to become a late-night talk show host on the Super Channel – provided he can shape-up in time – he doesn’t have a lot of choice. Christofilakis is not breaking new ground with this lightly satirical absurdist comedy, but its easy-going crowdpleasing nature, built around his own strong central performance, could help it get a foothold with international festivals looking for lighter programming after its Thessaloniki premiere.

There is no mistaking this is Christofilakis’ show from start to finish

Christofilakis (who won a trio of prizes at Thessaloniki for 2017’s Too Much Info Clouding Over My Head including best Greek debut) takes centre stage as Loukianos who, with his less than trim physique, shy attitude and average guy deportment, is hardly late-night telly frontman material – and he knows it. In order to give some heat to his profile at the same time as sharpening up his style and presenting chops, the studio hires Jenna (Elli Tringou, perhaps best known to international audiences for her debut in 2016’s Suntan) to pretend to be his girlfriend. She may have only placed fourth in Eurovision Junior 99 but she knows how to play the game, even if Loukianos doesn’t. 

Christofilakis also throws in a sweet side friendship Loukianos has with his old school friend Elina (Natasa Exintaveloni) into the mix. She is heavily pregnant with a prop bump that is pushed right to the very limit of believability for the sake of a thin laugh. Words, in general, work better for Christofilakis than the film’s visual humour, although he nudges gently at the ribs of television and celebrity rather than taking much in the way of a satirical bite from the subject.

Elina and Jenna become bright spots of authenticity in the sea of lies in which Loukianos is swimming. And if the various hoops he is asked to jump through in order to shape up are on the predictable side, Christofilakis’ timing helps the jokes to land. He also keeps Loukianos just hapless enough to be loveable without making him an annoying bore. While Christofilakis is adept at coming up with situations in which to place his character, though, he is less successful at making the various elements of Loukianos’ life fit together smoothly, so there is a general feeling of being thrust with him from one awkward situation to the next with little to bridge the gaps.

As sure as late-night talk shows follow the evening’s entertainment, the friendship between Loukianos and Jenna also starts to bloom. Presumably in a bid to avoid criticism, Jenna’s similarity to a ’manic pixie dream girl’ is specifically referenced. While at first glance, that might seem like a clever flex, and both of the female characters can stand up for themselves, there is still no getting away from the fact that they have been created to almost exclusively serve the main character’s arc. Whether Loukianos will retain his place in the spotlight is something to be revealed, but there is no mistaking this is Christofilakis’ show from start to finish.