“I’d seen the eagles flying high, and I longed to catch up with them. And all the hens around me kept me nailed to the ground…I fly high on an empty stomach. And I look down, see you all - the ants - and I feel full.”There’s comfort in hiding behind thinly veiled assumptions of grandeur; to think of oneself as a tragic figure beholden to the unfair cruelties enacted by others while never considering the (in)action that caused one to arrive at this position of misfortune. The rooster that the film’s title speaks of is metaphorical in nature, an animal known for its prideful stature and command over its flock and yet the only similarity that our protagonist has, despite his beliefs that he himself embodies this rooster, is its unearned pride and inflated egoism.I could spend some more time discussing these parallels, however, I happened upon a Director’s Statement from the (surprise to no one) film’s director, Tasos Gerakinis. He surmises his work in a beautifully articulate manner, which I certainly could not. While I did not adore Rooster, his passion for filmmaking seeps through every carefully chosen word in this statement. It would be a disservice to him and and his film if I chose not to share this:Director Statement“Rooster is a film about the invisible struggle of everyday life. Without any sense of heroism or solutions, I follow a man slipping quietly into a kind of salvational resignation. I was interested in telling a story where failure is not an explosion, but a leak — from the eyes, the body, the family. Where dignity doesn’t die; it simply gets forgotten. I set out to create a story about failure without drama, but with that bitter humor hidden inside the details: in silences, in awkward moments, in the little absurdities we overlook. Because sometimes, the ridiculous is just the tragic seen in a different light. Using humor, realistic dialogue, and silence as my tools, I sought to make a film where tears coexist with laughter, joy with sorrow — a film that ultimately moves, touches, and stirs something within us.”
