Set during the occupation of Greece during World War II, Dinos Katsouridis’ Eglima sta paraskinia (US: Murder Backstage) is an entertaining whodunit that unwinds throughout the world of theater and burlesque (including a wildly sexy strip tease with pasties). After a promiscuous actress is murdered in her dressing room, which is locked from the inside, police inspector Bekas (Titos Vandis) carries out the investigation accompanied by his old friend Makis (Alekos Alexandrakis), a newspaper editor seeking a scoop. From claustrophobic dressing rooms to dilapidated, old houses, the investigation turns up plenty of suspects and unearths plenty of tensions among the troupe members, revelations of blackmail, and resurrections of the presumed dead. Katsouridis’ direction is at its best when we leave the theater at night as characters are followed, assaulted, and spied on, their stalkers often lurking in the shadows, while Plessas’s dissonant score adds tension from the opening credits. The mystery may be solved too tidily for some, but Murder Backstage deserves praise as a hard-working Greek contribution to the cycle.
By Michael Bayer
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