Hardcore (2004) User Reviews

Down and dirty modern Greek gem, comes on like the Prodigys 'Smack my bitch up' video extended to a feature.

[theNomadz · 7/10 · 30 January 2007]

Wow spell binding is all I can say, Greek cinema doesn't break out to international crowds often, so when it does you can damned bet its special.

Plot is pretty bleak to say the least, revolving around two young 16-17 year old female prostitutes and their day to day struggle, and their dreams to get out of the grim life they've been living in not helped by their pimp. Along for part the ride they are joined by 2 fellow male prostitutes, then a client who falls for the youngest of the two girls.

Its not so much the plot that wins you over in this film, but the grand manner its filmed in. The film spins from darker music video gloss in the mould of Chris Cunningham or Gaspar Noe to comical Dennis Potter dream style montages.

The two central female leads do a stunning job in what must surely have been hard to film scenes. Slight warning is it won't be suitable for everyone has it has strong sexual content throughout. But then what do you expect from a film about this subject and with a title like Hardcore. [7.5 out of 10 would be my rating.]

This is the "hardcore" fact of life.

[hpan2012 · 7/10 · 29 April 2004]

Seeing Hardcore, many would mistake it for a somewhat ripoff (or homeage) of Quentin Tarantino's films. But it's not. Based on a Greek book, Hardcore brings the life and times of two girls, which adventures start from the gutter and move through a journey to success, with a price.

Dennis Iliadis succeeds into what other directors couldn't do in the so called "new Greek cinema" wave.His film captivates the attention of the audience, along with the two actresses who can really act, given the fact that the film does contain nude sequences.

It's a perfect mixture of guns, drugs, sex and violence, a trip through corruption and redemption. The film is a little more lengthy though, and it seems that there are two films combined.

Athen's dark underworld

[William_Hunt · 6/10 · 24 November 2005]

Saw this movie at the int. film-festival of Gent. First of all : this movie is not for people who are easily chocked.

Through the eyes of two young prostitutes named Nadia & Martha (who start a lesbian relationship) we are sucked into a dark world of sex, drugs and violence... but not without content ! The film is about jealousy, the need for a home and family (especially in Martha's case) but above all how hard it is to get out this kind of underground scene. During their relationship Nadia turns out more and more ambitious and manipulative what finally lead to manipulation and even murder. The story started rather slow but the ended very strong.

The movie is best described as an urban fairytale of love and betrayal.

Fun and games it's not, a great movie it is.

[pasakor · 30 July 2004]

Fun and games it's not, a great movie it is. It's masterfully directed it oozes creativity, it's touching and hard at the same time, it hasn't got a boring moment, it was snubbed by critics, it's in one word brilliant. Dennis Iliadis paints a picture of wasted youth but the movie is much more than a cautionary tale. It is a film about longing, about the need to feel at home, the need of a family. The movie's young protagonists may seem as lost cases to some, but they are no different than you and me. They may sell their bodies they may kill for fun and money, but, hey, we all do what we have to do... Try to see this movie. it's worth your admission money(and then some)!

great film

[ladystardust847 · 6/10 · 25 April 2004]

i saw hardcore yesterday,and i think it was great.the acting was very good even though most of the actors are still in drama schools and they havent been in a film before , they acted like professionals.particularly danae skiadi got perfectly in the skin of her part,her facial expressions,her movements and her "evil"smile worked very well.katerina tsavalou was also good,although sometimes the flat tone of her voice was kind of irritating but then i realised that it had to be like that since she was 17 and a half and already tired of her life,tired of being a teenage whore and not having anyone to love her and not just take advantage of her and also because she wasnt as tough as nadia was.i dont know if i would have liked hardcore that much if it was a hollywood film.i'm sure that it would have been completely different.they would have given more importance to martha's "need love and family" and it would be full of hugging,touching scenes with lines like:i'm sick of this life i want to be loved ,i want a family "and it would probably show why they left their houses in the fist place,probably because their parents were divorced and dad didnt pay enough attention to them...the classical hollywood themes and it would end up being boring.

Hardcore great urban fairytale

[Cone666 · 7/10 · 10 January 2012]

Hardcore to Princessas is like Scorcesse to Ken Loach. It also reminds me of the story The Silent Twins, or a very dark Trainspotting. It deals with an obsessive relationship between two girls, that ultimately will end badly. It is hard to say that they are insane because they are just reacting to the awfulness their situation. We find Martha and Nandia as teenagers working in a Greek brothel. The portrayal of the sex although not always abusive is always shown as exploitative. Making a mockery of all the Belle De Jours out there. This is in no way overdone, and actually very much a slice of reality in a film that contains, dream sequences, and other cinematic conceits. This is not to criticise the style as this is done well and completely suits the mood of which is almost whimsical. The girls and boys sit around while a Fagin like brothel owner doles out clients, and meagre wages. Nandia is the more dominant girl, the only one in the brothel with any ambitions of leaving. But we are unsure of what motivates her and her desires. Later it is revealed that she burnt her parents house down, and shows no concern as to whether they are alive or not, and she continually speaks of having to avenge. The pair have a lesbian relationship, as well as boyfriends, but in the end all their relationships are doomed considering their bad start. I have seen this called a Gay/Lesbian movie but there is no love in this film, and the sex they have is meaningless because it holds no value to them. There is a lovely sequence nearing the end where Martha imagines her and Nandia as normal adults - sitting around a dinner table discussing families and plans for holidays - it makes you realise the toll of prostitution, and what has been stolen from them. There is also a scene where Nandia says, "We'll grow old, we'll keep getting screwed and no one will know. Or care. People should care!" For me the idea is that we are the one's at the dinner table, and somehow these girls have ended up at the bottom, there for us to use.

Looked quite promising but lost in the way..

[manosnb · 5/10 · 20 December 2015]

I remember seeing the trailer of this movie as a teenager and wanting to watch it for the sex/drug/violence scenes. After 12 years I remember that this movie existed by chance and decided to watch it. It started way better that I would expect, nice dark atmosphere, strange characters and dialog's and the nudity/drugs/violence combo that provokes. However, it started to get more and more boring after a while. No real character development, no real plot, no message to pass. One of the few positives was the performance by Danae Skiadi. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same her alter- ego in the movie Katerina Tsakalou. I considered her to be perfect for this role, since she always gets this kinds of roles in Greek TV, but her performance was quite plain and simple. It is a pity because this movie could have been way way better.

Strong Film About Greek Prostitutes...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 28 May 2006]

HARDCORE is a very decent film about the lives of two young girls caught up in prostitution and drugs. Whoever likens this to a Tarantino film obviously didn't see the same film I did. HARDCORE is more comparable to something like KIDS than any of Tarantino's films. Good story-line and very strong performances make this one add up to a very good film overall...

Nadia and Martha are two young Greek hookers who begin a strange and tumultuous lesbian relationship. Quickly working their way up the "ranks" - the girls are offered better and higher-paying tricks based on their past "performance". Nadia is a level-headed and ambitious young girl, while Martha is more needy and reliant on Nadia's guidance. When the two girls beat a potential murder-rap after the killing of their pimp - Nadia falls into a modeling career and becomes successful very quickly. Although Nadia takes care of Martha and allows her to live with her - Martha becomes more needy as she see's Nadia use and being used by shady agents and magazine publishers. This all ends in a strong climax, where Martha realizes that she will never be truly happy while living in Nadia's shadow...

HARDCORE is an all-around strong film that deals with subject matter and content that may bother some. The girls are 16 and 17 respectively when they begin their prostitution career, and the audience is shown some strong scenes of their sexual liaisons with clients and others. Fans of films like KIDS, and BULLY (and numerous other late-teen angst films) will definitely be into this one. The performances by the two female leads are dead-on, and the way the story-line progresses is interesting and original. Definitely worth a look...8.5/10

Not really bad, not really good.

[punishmentpark · 5/10 · 23 March 2016]

'Hardcore' is rarely straightforward about its protagonists, Martha and Nadia. They are two young hookers and they like what they do - to an extent. Especially Nadia is bent on finding a better and easier life for herself, while trying to string Martha along. The two girls are part of a prostitution company, which labels its customers with a range of coloured post-its; purple means the biggest pay.

The film is at times dreamy and weirdly upbeat about the prostitutes' lives (with a cynical undertone that does not work as well as it may have been intended), a little too much perhaps, but for a long time it works pretty well. Unfortunately, near the end things get too repetitive and boring, not helped by a rather bland and unsurprising soundtrack. The acting is reasonable enough, but on the whole, it all really lacks the impact it pretends to have.

5 out of 10.

Hard hardcore

[videorama-759-859391 · 8/10 · 9 December 2017]

Though not mistaking this for that George C Scott/Paul Schrader film, this is the ultimate in eye candy eroticism, and shock, for two young pros, and their hustler boyfriends trying to make it, outside of what is hooking, but you know what's like. This is a well made foreign SBS type film, hot Greek Style, where we jump straight into this uncompromising film about hooking and drug taking, plus a little bit of blood. We have another much younger girl, can't more than 16, who joins them, her naivety, painfully patent, one scene involving been broken, is pushing the envelope stuff, but this is what the movie does, where you feed off that vibe. Addictive eye candy shock flick, emphasize erotic, Tsavalou, a hot Greek revelation of a beauty.

So violence, very much nude for what one more time Greek cinema saw his bad character

[sonacosanostra · 3/10 · 2 May 2006]

As good as it what?So violence very much nude for what one more time Greek cinema saw his bad character with a movie that have nothing interesting to give.We will see if Greek movie makers have something fresh to give because "HARDCORE" is not something new!But?also,Greek movie makers trying hard to give something new without a good effort at the moment but the hope for something good in Greek cinema it is dieing last.But the problem is not the the Greek movie makers and neither the Greek actor or Greek actresses.Here in Greece we have the talent ,we have the skill but there is not the big "producer".if you understand what i mean it.So keep trying and keep on Greece.

Bad ripoff of Lilya4Ever.

[DarkSpotOn · 3/10 · 4 December 2023]

Title says it all. This movie seems to be a flat off rip off of one of my favourite movies Lilya 4 Ever. I wouldn't mind that, but the core difference between the two movies are this: This movie is incredibly unrealistic, and our main characters aren't likeable. In Lilya4Ever, everything that happens, can easily happen in real life. Here, most stuff that happen, are unreal.

Considering this director also copied Wes Craven's movie, Last House on the Left, i am not suprised. What ruins this movie is the logic. I do not mind the plot, the plot was okay. The acting kinda seem wooden at times, but it's kinda okay, and the camera work kinda seems low.

As mentioned, this movie does not make a lot of logic. We start pretty strong, and then after 20-30 minutes, the movie gets really dull and boring. So our main character kills her boyfriend and a nameless man so she could get fame, and she does and she becomes a model? What logic does that make lol? You can say oh it's just a movie. Yeah, but this movie was trying to go for realism, and it did, and then it just decided no lets just make this movie completely unrealistic.

Another thing that really breaks this movie is the fact that our main character, Nandia, she is unlikeable as heck. She comes off as this miss perfect, that wants everything to be how she wants it to be. We are supposed to see her as a VICTIM, and she also said she set her parents on fire. And that's our victim? Where's the logic behind the writing of this movie?

There isn't any other character that has any depth except Martha and Nandia, which is okay, but i just failed to care for either of them, since Nandia comes as extremely unlikeable, while Martha has the personality of a toothpick.

Ultimately, no. Just watch the original Lilya 4 Ever. Or, there's also other movies that do the same subject matter much better like 3096 Days, Christiane F and Your Name Was Justine, every movie i just mentioned is way superior then this.

What also puzzles me is, how did Argyris get ahold of a pistol? He just said he got it. We never got an explaination on how he did so. This movie has so many holes i just listed a few, there's probably more 10 holes you can dug out from this. Also this movie is edited in a way that it goes upside down, it's not going normally like a normal story. No, they edited this in a way that it's so jammed together.

A crazy crazy greek movie

[jmtms51 · 8/10 · 2 April 2004]

The craziest new greek movie I have ever seen. At last a greek film maker "tried" to be ispired by the great Quentin Tarantino. It was about time. Nice scenario, no deep thinking purpose for everything is happening but still so good and fast rolling in the film. The plot doesn't stuck nowhere. Very good filming but very bad sound. The actors are all young and very beautiful (nessesary for the roles they are playing)which means that the casting was very good. The real reason I liked it is that I 've seen from inside this game of hookers and drugs because of my birthplace in Athens. Generally, although I laught very very much but I won't see it again.

Hardcore it is....

[Nepenth3 · 8/10 · 12 October 2005]

Realism at all costs..straight to your face, issues that usually cause revolt to lots of us, displayed in the most realistic way it could be..without being too provocative although that some scenes are way to the edge for commercial purposes (accordin' to my opinion of course).

Suitable soundtrack , good photography , Excellent performance by those two young actresses and finally a magnificent directing by Dennis Iliades...in other words a really good movie,However with a really "sad or even disturbing" concept. Blood? sex? violence? or just the way that things work?? All those compose a film drowned in "decadance" but honest and true at the same time... Anyway i would recommend this "new era of Greek cinema" film to those who could use a bit of a shock..or even a 90 minute lasting stimulation of the brain.. Love it or hate it!

A beautiful film about an alienated prostitute

[PimpinAinttEasy · 8/10 · 9 January 2018]

Two teenaged prostitutes meet and fall in love at a Greek brothel. Theirs is a jealous relationship because both of them have parallel affairs with two male prostitutes working at the same brothel. The younger prostitute Nandia (Danae Skidai) is ambitious and hatches a murderous plot that would catapult her and her lesbian lover Martha (Katerina Tsavalou) to money and fame. But Martha is a nice person and soon becomes tired of Nandia's machinations. She longs for a normal life and develops a soft corner for the fat accountant who loves Nandia.

Around 30 minutes into Hardcore, I couldn't help but draw parallels between the film and Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World (2001). The film's protagonists - two prostitutes who work in a Greek brothel, literally occupy a ghost world of paid sex, cruel pimps and drug pushers. There is even a scene where the two of them dance rhythmically standing side by side at a boring corporate party, like Enid and Rebecca in Ghost World's farewell party.

It is a terrific film shot mostly indoors in dark, dinghy and soulless rooms where soulless people indulge in soulless sex. The performances by the two leads are terrific. I strongly recommend this little known Greek film which does have graphic scenes of sex and violence.