Another case of the first 15 minutes establishing mysterious happenings only for the next 75 minutes to spin wheels before a predictably forgettable send off. This largely two-character piece needs our main pair to nail the tone, dialogue, and chemistry for any chance to succeed and unfortunately I don’t think that’s the case–especially in regards to chemistry.  While the rest of the runtime has loads of lovely Greek vistas, sunsets, and forestry to get lost in I don’t think that alone makes Entwined a worthwhile movie.

As soon as Panos (Prometheus Aleifer) and George (John De Holland) lay their father to rest Panos relocates to the middle of nowhere in Greece to act as a small village’s new doctor. After nearly running over Danae (Anastasia Rafaella Konidi) as she wanders through the trees Panos finds his hopes of starting a new life made difficult by standoffish residents like Athena (Maria Eglezaki) who make no efforts to hide their apathy for the village’s new (actually, *first*) doctor. Panos soon finds himself drawn to music coming from the surrounding forest and slowly realizes leaving may not be entirely up to him.

Early on it’s abundantly clear this will be more a go-with-the-flow, mood & meaning kind of movie instead of something terribly concerned with plotlines, characters, or anything outside the message of love nature however unknowable or foreign. It dies on the vine, however, when the point becomes clear ~30 minutes in and the next hour hits all the same notes on a loop with not a surprise to be found. Like many that go for atmosphere/ultimate meaning over character/narrative/all else, there’s simply not enough material for a feature-length time at the theater so brace for repetitive padding. Sure, there’s a creepy fairy tale-esque quality to the setup and setting but nothing’s done with it by way of frights or thrills or anything worth your time.

Also, don’t value science or doctors! That’s one of Entwined’s weird recurring bits, of how Panos–a doctor–should let go of his desire to help, fix, or know things and go with the tradition of “the old ways” because…because. He’s told things like “Put your faith in me and this magic” once he finds himself unable to navigate away from the forest or “Life begins in Earth, water, and air” when he’s wounded and asks for his medical kit to heal a cut. The village doesn’t even have a phone available, which of course Panos learns after moving in sight unseen to be a doctor to those who’ve never had or wanted one. And why this village? How’d he even come to that conclusion never having been before?

Performance-wise there’s really only the two main roles in Panos & Danae with a couple supporting players who largely act as connective tissue for the “narrative” but have no purpose beyond what they provide to/for the leads. As far as lead characters go, both have empty voids where a personality would normally be. Some of that is absolutely the nature of the film, but at a certain point when you only have *two* main characters and they’re both dull as all hell the mind can’t help but long for credits to roll as soon as possible. So, who’s this movie for? If you want to spend 90 minutes in a small Greek village of the forest with a couple frustratingly dull non-characters where nothing much happens and it’s over then boy will this get your motor running–otherwise pass.

4 out of 10 Unwanted Doctors