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In a world where amnesia has become commonplace, a solitary Greek man named Aris ( Aris Servetalis ) tries to rebuild his life after the spontaneous loss of his memory. Aris is a quiet, secretive soul with soft eyes and a palpable sense of melancholy.

After a stay in the amnesiac ward, he enrolls in a program that provides him with instructions for rejoining society. They are given to Aris via tape recorder, as a doctor’s voice guides him through a “program” that consists of normal activities like going to the movies, dressing up for Halloween, and even making friends. After each experience, he must take a polaroid and put it in a photo album for the doctors to observe. 

Throughout it all Aris remains mysteriously detached from all these activities, living life as a spectator. This starts to change when he meets another amnesiac–an outgoing woman named Anna ( Sofia Georgovassili ) who is also going through this “program.” She approaches her assignments with a childlike annoyance, uninterested in the emotional nuances of each interaction.

For a little while, Christos Nikou ’s feature directorial debut "Apples" feels like one of those films about a lonely man who falls in love with a fascinating woman and regains his zest for life. Aris’ time with Anna is reminiscent of the relationships in American independent dramas like " Garden State " and Cameron Crowe ’s " Elizabethtown ." He’s a quiet man, she’s an opinionated woman—it’s a dynamic in media audiences know well. But Nikou has loftier ambitions for "Apples, " commenting on the shallow nature of their interactions. Despite his condition, Aris seems to be actively avoiding an intimate relationship with other people and his own mind. Anna is someone he can disappear into, with the image of a relationship and no actual depth behind it. Is Anna even attracted to Aris or is he just agreeable enough to be her companion for a short time? Does Aris like Anna, or is he simply afraid of being fully alone?

The only thing Aris—and by extension the audience—knows for sure is his love for apples, which he is seen frequently eating throughout the film. In a way, this is his most intimate relationship. We don’t know the full story behind his attachment but that is where our curiosity settles. With its connections to health, wellness and memory, apples are Aria’s main tether to the man he used to be. 

The influence of Spike Jonze , Charlie Kaufman , and fellow Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is clear throughout "Apples" with its meta-commentary on the absurdity of human nature and the awkwardness of love. The film takes its time, allowing us to live in every quiet moment with Aris. Slowly it becomes clear that there is a performed detachment, squashing any strong emotions before they fully reveal themselves. It’s a deeply human coping mechanism that highlights the masculine fear of vulnerability and opening oneself up to a pandora’s box of deep pain that begs to be dealt with.

Despite the existential depth of its themes, "Apples" has a somewhat whimsical tone with its playful use of music, light, and everyday pop culture references. With our protagonist being an amnesiac, it allows us to enjoy small details like learning the plot of James Cameron ’s " Titanic " or doing the twist at a retro style club night and having a bathroom hookup for what feels like the first time.

Aris exists in a sort of analog future devoid of social media but still somewhat detached and superficial in its engagement with social life and communal experiences. Life is a collection of rituals, each rooted in a broad pop-culture based understanding of what it means to be authentically human. Each of Aria’s activities could be easily described in a pop song, with vague enough details to feel universal. 

Both Servetalis and Georgovassili give skilled, authentic performances as two people with wildly different approaches to dealing with their loss of memory. Anna’s energetic, unfiltered reactions to the world are balanced by Aris’ restrained pursuit of understanding. Together, they are perfect opposites, with the shaky nature of their relationship adding richness to their shared moments.

In his first outing as a feature filmmaker, Nikou blends subtle comedy and tragedy to create a quietly moving cinematic experience. "Apples" is a film about what it means to be alive and part of the wider social structure of the world. It’s about the ways we distract ourselves from the memories that cause us the deepest pain. One cannot be sustained by the momentary joys alone, and no degree of documentation can substitute the authentic feelings of these initial moments. Life is fleeting, but the only way to find more joy is by accepting the intensity of pain and loss. If most experiences are universal, then existence is all about the details.

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Apples (2022)

Aris Servetalis as Aris

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The 20 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now

When it comes to originals,  Netflix and  Amazon have the deepest libraries of prestige movies. But ever since  CODA   won the Best Picture Oscar , it’s become clear that some of the best movies are on Apple TV+.

As with any streaming service, not every film on the roster is a winner, but from  Billie Eilish documentaries to Sundance darlings, Apple’s streaming service is building up a strong catalog to run alongside its growing slate of  beloved TV shows .

Below are WIRED’s picks for flicks you should prioritize in your queue. Once you’re done, hop over to our list of the  best movies on Netflix and the  best movies on Disney+ . If you’re feeling a little more episodic, our guide for the  best shows on Amazon might be just the ticket.

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When Mad Max: Fury Road came out in 2015, it was three decades late and right on time. Released 30 years after mastermind George Miller released the last Mad Max movie— Beyond Thunderdome —it was a jolt to moviegoers who were otherwise being treated to rehashes like Fantastic Four and Terminator Genisys . Easily one of the best postapocalyptic films ever, it’s all style but not devoid of substance. It also introduced Charlize Theron’s Furiosa, a crusader for the women being subjected to the tyranny of Immortan Joe. Fury Road will be on Apple TV+ until the end of April—just enough time for you to watch it again before its follow-up, Furiosa , hits theaters in May.

OK, so Napoleon didn’t exactly get critics’ pens flying , but sometimes you’re just in the mood for a big, prestige-y Ridley Scott historical drama, you know? This one stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character, following his quest to conquer, well, as much as he possibly can. However, rather than being a sprint to the Battle of Waterloo, this pic gives attention to the French emperor’s emotionally rocky relationship with his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). What happens when a man can conquer most of Europe but not his own feelings? Watch and find out.

Just in time for awards season, Killers of the Flower Moon is finally available to stream starting January 12. Martin Scorsese’s epic film is based on David Grann’s 2017 book about a member of the Osage Nation, Mollie Burkhart, who sought to get to the bottom of the deaths in her family. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, a time when many Osage were being killed for the money made from oil on their land, Scorsese’s film follows the relationship between Mollie (played by Lily Gladstone, who won a Golden Globe for her performance) and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and what happens when the FBI comes to investigate the Osage deaths. When WIRED named it one of 2023’s best movies , we called it “a feel-bad masterpiece,” and we stand by that.

Can technology determine whether you've found The One? Probably not, but in the latest from writer-director Christos Nikou, an institute run by Duncan (Luke Wilson) claims that it has found the formula for true love anyway—and Anna (Jessie Buckley) wants to figure out if it's real. The institute, you see, has determined that Anna and her boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) are a match, but has doubts. While working at the institute, though, she meets Amir (Riz Ahmed) and finds someone who actually might be her match.

Remember Sing Street , that charming indie about a kid in Dublin who starts a band as an escape from his complicated home life? What about Once , that charming indie about a pair that spends a week in Dublin writing songs about their love? If you enjoyed either of those—or if they just sound like something you might enjoy—let us suggest Flora and Son , a charming indie about a mother in Dublin trying to connect with her son through song. Like Sing Street and Once , Flora and Son comes from director John Carney and has all of his signature moves, plus something else: Eve Hewson, who plays the movie's titular mom. She's a force, and she hits all of her musician notes perfectly. Makes sense, she's Bono's daughter.

Here it is, the question everyone will ask when you’re writing about Apple TV+’s new original movie: Do you remember Beanie Babies? If you were born after 2000, the answer is likely no , unless you have a retro toy collector friend or a goofy aunt who has a few of them lying around. The good news is that The Beanie Bubble is for those fans and everyone else too. It’s about a toy salesman named Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) who stumbles into the biggest success of his life after he teams up with three women to develop the kind of plushies people just can’t get enough of. Critics have been mixed, but thanks to performances from the likes of Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, and Sarah Snook (proving there’s life after Succession ), it’s the kind of sweet dramedy that’s perfect for a night in.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry might be one of the most beloved players in American basketball—and he is definitely one of the best players, if not the best player, in the league. He's been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player twice and has won four championship rings. He also has more career three-pointers than anyone in the league. But in the late aughts, he was a kid at a small school, Davidson College, just trying to live up to the potential his coaches saw in him. Underrated , directed by Peter Nicks ( Homeroom ), chronicles that journey, showing how Curry bested the predictions of his own NBA draft (many said he didn't have the size necessary for the league) to become one of the greatest to ever play the game. For basketball fans, it's a must-watch.

One of the pioneering groups in hip hop, the Beastie Boys have a story like no other. For this “live documentary,” filmmaker Spike Jonze filmed Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) as they told a crowd at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater about their rise to stardom. Complete with old footage, photos, and stories from the group’s decades-long career, the doc captures just how influential the Beasties have been since they started playing music together as kids in New York City in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It also features some wonderful memories of their third member, Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died in 2012 following a battle with cancer.

This is the one that put Apple TV+ on the map. The movie’s title is an acronym for “child of deaf adults.” It’s the story of Ruby, the only hearing person in a family that includes two deaf parents and one deaf sibling. When Ruby discovers a love of music, she's forced to reconcile her own aspirations with those of her family, who run a small fishing business and often need her to help communicate. Warm and gripping,  CODA  is the kind of movie that will have you cheering and crying at the same time.

In 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of Hollywood’s biggest names as the star of a hit TV show ( Family Ties ) and the year’s highest-grossing movie ( Back to the Future ). Just a few years later, at the age of 29, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In  Still , Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim offers a poignant portrait of Fox’s personal and professional life, and his journey from teen idol to advocate for a cure.

Mahershala Ali stars alongside, well, Mahershala Ali in this romantic-sci-fi-drama. Yes, it’s all of those things. Cameron (Ali) is a loving husband (to Naomie Harris) and father who, after learning he has a terminal illness, must decide just how far he’ll go to protect his family from having to know the truth, or deal with the devastating aftermath.

Sharper is one of those movies where the less you know about it going in, the better. Just know that no one is what they seem or who they say they are in this neo-noir starring Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and John Lithgow. This twisty little thriller flew largely under the radar when it was released in theaters for a half-second in early 2023.

If you’ve read the  reviews , you know this movie isn’t exactly  good , per se, but if you want to see Captain America (Chris Evans) and a future John Wick–franchise badass (Ana de Armas) fall in love as part of the goofiest premise possible—He’s a farmer! She’s a secret agent!—this is for you. Give this movie a go(sted).

By now, thousands of pop music fans know the Billie Eilish monomyth: Young, slightly punk, slightly goth teenager starts making songs in her brother’s bedroom, puts them online, and becomes one of the biggest pop stars in the world. It’s a great story, but that’s only about a quarter of the tale of Eilish’s ascent to superstar status.  The World’s a Little Blurry  fills in (some of) the blanks. Director R. J. Cutler got amazing access for this film, which chronicles everything from Eilish’s songwriting process with her brother Finneas to her frank talk about her Tourette’s. It’s the kind of music documentary that redefines the music documentary.

“Sundance hit starring Dakota Johnson”s are almost a dime a dozen, but this one, about a young bar/bat mitzvah party-starter is the, ahem, real deal. It also proves that Cooper Raiff—who writes, directs, and stars in the movie—is one to keep your eye on.

Yes, most people already know the story of Macbeth—Scottish lord with an eye toward ruling his country—but not everyone has seen it through the eyes of director Joel Coen. Shot entirely in black and white and starring Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as his powerful wife, the film was nominated for three Oscars and brought a very new twist onto a classic Shakespearean tale.

Above all else, Louis Armstrong is known as one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time. But he was also a figure in the struggle for equality in America—albeit a complicated one. As director Sacha Jenkins illustrates in this documentary, while Armstrong broke racial barriers in entertainment he also faced accusations that he didn’t stand up as much for civil rights as other performers of his era. Jenkins got access to scores of photographs, clippings, and even recordings Armstrong made of his own conversations for this documentary, and that access provides a much fuller picture of the legendary musician than the world has ever had.

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Sidney Poitier died in 2022, the same year Apple TV+ released this documentary looking at the actor’s long-running career— In the Heat of the Night ,  Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner —and impact on American culture and politics. With interviews ranging from Spike Lee and Morgan Freeman to Harry Belafonte, the film goes beyond his time in Hollywood, starting with his upbringing in the Bahamas and ending with his massive impact on the civil rights movement and elsewhere.

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Movie Reviews

In the greek film 'apples,' a mysterious condition leaves people without memories.

Justin Chang

Aris Servetalis plays a man who inexplicably loses his memory in Apples. Courtesy of Cohen Media Group hide caption

Aris Servetalis plays a man who inexplicably loses his memory in Apples.

I first watched Apples about two years ago, several months into COVID lockdown. At the time, the movie felt eerily of the moment, since its story takes place during a pandemic. In this pandemic, however, people aren't spreading a deadly virus; they're inexplicably losing their memories.

We see this happen in the opening scenes, when an unnamed middle-aged man (played by Aris Servetalis) leaves his Athens apartment one day, gets on a bus and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he can no longer remember his name, where he lives or where he was going.

He isn't carrying any ID, and so he winds up in a hospital where doctors examine him and wait for family members or friends to come and identify him. But no one shows up, and so the man is enrolled in a government program designed to help him and the many others like him cope with their amnesia.

He's placed in an apartment and given money for expenses. Each day he plays a cassette tape — the movie seems to be taking place pre-internet — and listens to a voice assigning him a specific task like "ride a bicycle" or "go watch a horror movie," in hopes that these experiences will help jog his memory. He's instructed to take Polaroids of these experiences and keep them in a scrapbook, which comes to resemble an extremely analog Instagram account.

It all sounds bizarre on paper. But Apples , the first feature from the director and co-writer Christos Nikou, unfolds with an understated deadpan wit that makes even its weirder touches seem plausible, even logical. At times it reminded me of some of the brilliant absurdist satires, like Dogtooth and Attenberg , that have put Greek cinema on the map over the past two decades.

But Nikou has a gentler, more melancholy touch. The script leaves a lot to the imagination: We learn no more about the cause or the outcome of the pandemic than we do about the avian attacks in Hitchcock's The Birds . We also don't learn much about the main character's background; there are no flashbacks to his earlier life and there's no voiceover narration, either.

But while the character is quiet and emotionally reserved by nature, Servetalis, the actor playing him, is a mesmerizing screen presence. Sometimes Nikou shoots him in close-up, and sometimes from a distance, creating a ghostly, disorienting effect. You can't stop watching him, whether he's walking the streets of an eerily underpopulated Athens or slicing and eating apples, his favorite fruit.

At one point he befriends a woman, played by Sofia Georgovassili, who's also trying to recover her memory through the government program. An attraction forms, but then quickly dissipates; their amnesia is more of a hindrance than a bond. Without their memories and their identities, it's hard for these two lonely, drifting souls to get on the same wavelength.

Speaking of memory: Watching Apples for the second time in two years, I was startled by how vividly I remembered much of it. In particular, I haven't stopped mentally replaying one extraordinarily moving scene in which our hero goes to a crowded dance club and begins doing the twist, losing himself in the music and the moment. Is he suddenly remembering how he used to dance, or is he blissfully surrendering himself to his amnesia? It's not immediately clear, and it's also not the only such ambiguous moment .

At times, our hero seems to experience flashes of clarity. He remembers his old address. He recognizes a dog from his old neighborhood. Is his memory coming back? But if so, why doesn't he share this good news with anyone, almost as if he preferred to stay in the dark? Is there some other explanation for what's going on?

I won't give anything away, especially since I'm not entirely sure myself. But as it unfolds, Apples seems to become a story about romantic loss as well as memory loss. Sometimes it suggests a lower-key version of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , and like that tale of lost love, it asks whether some memories are best left forgotten.

As strange and singular as Apples is, its protagonist's condition hits on something universal. It's about how we deal with grief and loneliness, especially when memory becomes more of a curse than a blessing.

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‘Apples’ Review: Forget Me Not

Amnesia strikes individuals at random in this absurdist dramedy from Greece, which may be too deadpan for its own good.

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By Beatrice Loayza

Firmly in the tradition of the “Greek Weird Wave” that most viewers associate with the films of Yorgos Lanthimos, “Apples” is a deadpan dramedy with an eerily familiar dystopian premise.

Amnesia spreads like a sickness, striking at random and forcing the unluckiest individuals to complete in a bizarre program that equips patients with a new identity. Such is the case with Aris (Aris Servetalis), a middle-aged, droopy-eyed wretch who, one afternoon, literally takes a bus ride to nowhere. By the time he reaches the end of the line, he has no idea who he is.

Written and directed by Christos Nikou, “Apples” follows Aris on the ostensible road to recovery, drifting through a depopulated Athens where the stilted, phantom-like people that do enter the frame beg the (existential) question: are these the infected? Or is everyone, in their own way, just as lost?

Initially, watching Aris commit to the training program has its charms. Every day, he listens to cassette tapes that instruct him to create specific memories — riding a bike, getting a lap dance, attending a costume party. But our hero, a kind of mute and wide-eyed space alien, makes these totally ordinary activities feel absurd. That the program obliges him to take a Polaroid each time he completes a task adds to the gloomy, if chuckle-inducing, artificiality.

These listless proceedings are shaken up when Aris meets Anna (Sofia Georgovasili), a chirpy fellow amnesiac. Anna’s intentions are fittingly obscure, but the development of an actual, recognizably human relationship between the two gives the film a pulse where there was once only blank-faced dark comedy. Still, the movie never manages to hit above a dim emotional pitch, and a final-act awakening lands with a shrug. You can rest assured, at least, that Aris does eventually stir out of his zombified state — and that apples actually do play a starring role.

Apples Not rated. In Greek, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. In theaters.

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Review: Memory and identity vanish in soothing Greek existential drama ‘Apples’

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Memory, by choice or by accident, fails the aching characters in director Christos Nikou’s unassumingly superb first feature “Apples,” executive produced by Cate Blanchett , in which an epidemic of sudden amnesia sweeps across Greece.

Set in a nondescript past before smartphones became ubiquitous and analog technology still reigned (presumably the late 1990s, based on a movie referenced), the quiet film unfurls in a boxy aspect ratio and submerged in an opaque color palette of grays and light blues. The aesthetic choices exude a visual serenity that matches the story’s overall restrained tone.

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Expressionless, middle-aged Aris (Aris Servetalis) seems to be the latest victim of the unexplained affliction. Found on the bus sans documentation and with no family to claim him, he becomes an unidentified patient and begins a series of tests to determine what, if anything, he can recall. Like him, many others can’t remember who they were.

The illness not only removes all personal details from a person’s mind, but most information on how the world operates and its social norms. However, in Aris’ case, his predilection for the titular apples appears to suspiciously have been spared in the process.

To deal with those in his situation, the government has set up a program to help them start anew. Via cassette tapes, Aris receives a list of quintessential life experiences and skills he must pursue and document with a Polaroid camera. Some, like riding a bicycle or driving rely on muscle memory, while others push Aris out of his interpersonal comfort zone.

There’s a humorous absurdity to the tasks that seems to comment on our modern obsession with registering every moment with a camera. In a photo album, all these printed images of Aris’ new, forcefully constructed life accumulate like a tactile Instagram profile.

Greek film ‘Apples’ explores the role of memory in human existence

‘Could it be that we are the things we don’t forget? Because in a way, we are our memories,’ asks director Christos Nikou.

Jan. 12, 2021

One night at the movie theater, he comes across Anna (Sofia Georgovassili), another amnesiac also completing these pillars of the human condition to build a new identity. As a friendship develops between them, more questions emerge about who Aris and Anna are.

Gentle in their narrative approach, Nikou and co-writer Stavros Raptis play it close to the vest, letting the subtext and small shifts in the performance relay nods to its ideas on loss and reinvention. In their impeccable screenplay, one line of dialogue can inconspicuously but intensely expand our understanding of the offbeat premise and of Aris’ motivations.

There are other lyrical touches transmitted in thematically relevant imagery: Aris dresses up as an astronaut for a costume party, reaffirming in an unspoken manner the desire one can feel to leave behind all that you know, to explore new ground, to see one’s life from the outside in, like leaving the planet and looking back at it from outer space.

Even if one considers “Apples” part of the so-called Greek Weird Wave, such a subtly thoughtful and soothing approach to probe at existential concerns, rather than being predictably cynical or violent, makes it stand out.

That Nikou began his career as an assistant director to Yorgos Lanthimos on “Dogtooth,” while Servetalis appeared in that director’s 2011 film “Alps,” might inflate those assumptions about the collective bizarreness and deadpan humor that appears to characterize most of the Hellenic productions that reach our shores.

Late in the picture, in one of the film’s most surprisingly poignant scenes, Aris dances with abandon at a bar as if he has, for a moment or forever, forgotten about shame, reveling in a blissfully uninhibited state. It’s then that Nikou suggests the benefits of becoming a blank slate, unlearning fear and all other imposed social burdens. If no one knows who you were, not even you, then you can be a truer version of yourself.

Yet, what makes “Apples” a delicately affecting gem not to be missed is that the more its layers peel away, the more that apparently inconsequential facts like one’s favorite fruit gain importance as we examine who we become when we no longer have our baggage, both the beautiful and the sorrowful.

There’s a comforting benevolence to not recalling the pain once felt. If we could, we might agree to have all trauma wiped away, and have selective memory only treasuring the good parts of the past. But in reality, we tend to cling vehemently to what no longer is, because joy and suffering are often intertwined, components of a continuum that gives us meaning.

Forgetting can be a blessing, but perhaps the hurt that comes with not letting go is the price for having had a life worth remembering.

In Greek with English subtitles Not Rated Running time: 1 hours, 31 minutes Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena

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Apples Reviews

This is a distinct new voice within the film industry and I certainly cannot wait to see what he does next.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Mar 1, 2024

Nikou leverages 14842’s journey to illustrate that there is joy in embracing immense personal, past anguish over impersonal collateral sorrow at the hands of acquaintances and strangers.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2023

If the conclusion to [Christos] Nikou's debut doesn't land as effectively as it could, he casts an enchanting spell through deft direction combined with [Aris] Servetalis's consistently compelling performance.  

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 20, 2022

Christos Nikou’s film, rather ironically, lingers long in the mind following the end credits. Proving that at its core, Apples is an unforgettable debut.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 12, 2022

A social parable about an individual's autonomy against a political or scientific authority imposing absolute control on the psyche after redesigning it. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Sep 12, 2022

Aris is the riddle, subtly unlocked in a fable where forgetfulness is as much an unexplained incurable disease as it is a salve for painful memories.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 25, 2022

You can come away from Apples chewing not only on weighty themes related to pandemics and “do it for the ‘Gram” culture, but on how the fallible space between what we remember and forget is endlessly, essentially human.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 27, 2022

A moody, meditative drama about an epidemic of amnesia. this Greek drama raises nettlesome questions about identity and how we relate to each other.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 21, 2022

Apples won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if it hits you right, it’ll stay in your bones for days afterward.

Full Review | Jul 17, 2022

Dystopia settles into each gesture, each movement... Nikou teases out notions of how and why we are haunted... no answers, but many quizzical questions. (Plus dancing. There must always be dancing in Greek movies.) “Apples” is a small, but beautiful poem.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 15, 2022

One of the most original, if understated, movies of the year, Nikou’s directorial debut relies upon the potency of the image above ponderous dialogue or showy close-ups.

Full Review | Jul 14, 2022

Nikou puts Aris on a profound journey as we wonder what our place is on this earth, and it pulls no punches.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2022

A gentle meditation on memory, being, belonging and abandonment, Apples is also a first feature from Greek director and co-writer Christos Nikou.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 12, 2022

Servetalis' stoic passivity is somehow endearing, the movie itself understated in a way that feels original if ambiguous...

Full Review | Jul 11, 2022

Nikou has taken some big risks for his directorial debut. Apples walks a line between humour and pathos that isn't easily definable. But his restrained and thoughtful approach results in a deeply rewarding film.

Full Review | Original Score: A-minus | Jul 8, 2022

We’re able to invest ourselves in Nikou’s world because we can so easily see ourselves in Servetalis’s character.

Full Review | Jul 7, 2022

Apples is a half-mocking parable of the individual invented realities in which we increasingly isolate ourselves.

Pick 'Apples'. Christos Nikou’s eccentric, minimalist dramedy is one of the year's best films so far.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 5, 2022

The pleasure of Apples lies in being able to savor the sheen of a deceptively simple story and then bite into the delicious puzzle Christos Nikou has planted inside.

Full Review | Jul 4, 2022

What this surreal microcosm ends up conveying about the human experience extends past the frame and into viewers’ hearts and minds.

Full Review | Jul 1, 2022