Audiences may remember the Greek actor Aris Servetalis from “The Favourite” director Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2012 “Alps”. Now he has been given a starring role that in the directorial debut of Steve Krikris, who made an appearance as an actor in Lanthimos’s breakthrough film “Dogtooth”.

Servetalis grabs the lead actor responsibility with glee, putting in a truly charismatic performance as Renos, the titular waiter who lives alone in an apartment and spends his spare time making detailed drawings of flora. Renos is a man of meticulous routine which is rudely interrupted by the disappearance of a neighbour, which plunges the quiet waiter into a mystery packed with twists for which he is seemingly ill-prepared.

Watch the trailer here:

Krikris, who was inspired to write the script while living in New York in the 1980s, has created a smart and superbly stylish film that is reminiscent of some of the Coen brothers’ best work--a sinister long corridor, Renos’s silent dedication to his art and his unwitting witness to horror brings to mind “Barton Fink”. Krikris even says that he was interested in creating a micro world, “focusing on seemingly minor details that I later realized played a significant role”--much as the Coens’ love to zoom in on inanimate objects.

The director has infused the film with a series of beautifully framed and marvelously paced scenes of dark humour and a number of truly unforgettable shots--a shoe from which gum has been scraped drying in a restaurant freezer full of ice-cream cakes is fantastic.

Servetalis carries the film, but is given cracking support from Chiara Gensini and Yannis Stankoglou in crucial roles in what essentially becomes a very tangled triangle.

“The Waiter” is being screened at Ciné Utopia, avenue de la Faïencerie, at 6.30 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with director Steve Krikris.