Digger

Digger FL, 2021, 2 stars

A tough dig

Exclusive to MeierMovies, March 25, 2022

Digger is dark, dank, dirty and depressing. However, this gritty story of an estranged father and son fighting to save their way of life from a greedy mining company is also well intentioned and acted. Nevertheless, the four aforementioned D’s mean this critic is unable to award passing marks to this Greek drama.

Marking the feature debut of writer-director Georgis Grigorakis, Digger is a tough watch both visually and thematically. It’s filmed darkly and in shallow focus with a wide aspect ratio that, instead of enhancing the visual information, often limits it. Adding to that gloomy aesthetic are conflict, foreboding, familial betrayal and impending doom, dominated by a sense that “the monster is coming, eating everything up” – the monster being environmental and social disaster at the hands of the miners. Vangelis Mourikis crafts a quietly superb performance as a farmer clinging to his rural existence, but it’s not enough to overcome the slow pacing and unimpactful story choices in the third act. I dug deep into Digger but came up empty.

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This capsule review is part of my coverage of the 2022 Florida Film Festival. For more information about the event and an index of reviews of other festival films, go here. For more information on this movie, visit IMDB.