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Reviews
O dromos (2005)
Two women, one old car and the trip to the dream; a Greek road movie, dry and real and full of stories, like the Greek rural roads are...
Katy (Dimitra Matsouka) and Irene (Eleni Kastani) are two old friends, born, brought-up and currently living, in Didimoticho, a Greek town near the far North-East borders of the country. Katy is single, pretty and a hairdresser's assistant. According to the gossip of the men in town she is, as well, supposed to be promiscuous in her affairs. Irene is married to Dimitris, runs a lingerie shop and her self esteem is somehow low.
Katy has a dream: "to leave" and escape from something. Irene has a dream: to get pregnant and get Dimitris' interest back.
One day Katy persuades Irene to join a trip to Myconos. The trip is impossible but they manage to get on. On the way to south (Athens) the stories and personal experiences of the people they meet unfold in a semi-professional way, allowing life to dance with death, reality to survive the dreams and hope to prevail from pain.
The movie is shot many times assimilating an amateur camera shooting and at other times the dialogues are not following the same level and expectations of the plot. Judging though the movie as "not good" could be a defense for the painful reality; domestic violence, women's rights, closed communities, social exclusion and stigma for the weak one, social norms of the superficial success, finding God in the modern Balkans and the loneliness of death, are all met, felt and lived in this movie. And both Tselemegos(director) and Nassis (writer) vote for life, when the ultimate pain produces love, in a dramatic and long lasting ending.
Qian li zou dan qi (2005)
Therapeutic!
How far would you go to find the bridge back to love? Zhang Yimou creates a truthful, meaningful, and respectfully rich in emotions journey of a father to rebuild the loving relationship he has lost with his son.
"Qian li zou dan qi" is a poetic movie full of metaphor and deep sense of the human agony of loneliness, isolation, defensive selfishness and the pain of facing death. The movie is engaging the spectators in an emotionally adventurous trip: the trip to the Tokyo's hospital, the trip to China, the trip to the prison, the trip to the Stone Village.
The plurality, the origins, the different cultures, the complete opposite professions (villagers, professionals, tour guides, officers, dancers of the opera) of the characters, are creating such an atmosphere that would be difficult for everyone not to find his psyche engaging in the journey of this movie. And the closure is completion...
Psyhraimia (2007)
Fresh, animated, pragmatic! And adventurous...
George, Hloi, Billis, Stavrakomanios and Papadakis are driving towards the Venizelos airport, at the same time, without knowing that their stories are part of one, bigger and involving their parents' story. Corruption, politics, media, drugs, prison system, health system, social standards of Modern Greek life-style in the 21st century exposed in a powerful way: this is not part of the night-life world, this is part of the Greek everyday reality. And the next generation is about to take some decisions.
Perakis shows for one more time how crucial and shameful social issues can be approached with wit and in a productively provocative way. What seemed to be "just another" modern-Greek comedy (first 10 minutes of the movie) is turning into a hopeful process.
Modern Greek society apart from struggling with an amalgam of historic and modern geopolitical forces and continuous changes seems to be unable to finalize its struggle for an identity for many decades now. Lacking the (sometimes externally imposed) heroism of the generations of the first half of the 20th century, the generations leading the country into the end of the 20th century seemed to have identified with a "balkanised" trio of values: money, media-fame and easy pleasure.
This is not news and "Psychraimia" is not the only movie addressing that. The news about this movie is the possibility that the emerging generations have somehow secure some remaining and healthy grounds to build a different and alternative future to the one that the previous generation has left. And, according to this movie, this is not possible only to the minority of the society that has been carrying the burden of the on-going corruption for the past decades in a peaceful but painful way either via the spiritual or cultural heritage; this becomes possible in the very heart of the rotting modern Greek leading society group.
Pente lepta akoma (2006)
She is beautiful and you feel jealous! Is death the end?
In modern Athens a motorbike dealer (Tassos) suffers from erotic jealousy for his young wife (Aliki). They are having constant arguments over the telephone calls that Aliki leaves unanswered when Tassos is around and this behaviour triggers his paranoia to the extreme. When life becomes impossible, the angry Aliki will drive away and Tassos will speed up behind her. A distraction by the mysterious DC2 Citroen driver will cost
his life.
A new experience begins with a process. Tassos will discover in the rest of the movie what is hiding behind the "5 minutes deal". How do you spend 5 minutes of life when you are able to observe anything happening and you are in communication with both worlds? Some reminders of Hollywood movies dealing with the communication of ghosts in love with humans and a continuous explosion of comical situations could easily lead to the misinterpretation of the movie to be a cheap comedy.
Exploring the issues of the psyche of the jealous husband and the straight reference to the difficult issues of death and the life after, are making this movie to have a Mediterranean taste. Many things are symbolic, the hero strangles with a God he can not understand and finally the brave dismiss of Sartre's famous saying "the others are my hell" and replacing it by the far more Greekorthodox "you are already in hell, the hell is this, to be on your own", applies to the movie a unique atmosphere.
Fylakes anilikon (1982)
The painful comedy! Watch it if you dare!
Based in Athens of the early 80's the story follows the everyday life of a group of young friends, supposed to be teenagers and their row and aggressive negotiation with life.
The Story A': coming from different backgrounds, four friends are sharing a good deal of similar problems. Despite coming from different backgrounds they share the poverty, the grim future, the instincts of sexuality and the anger towards a society that is treating them "unequally". The scenery begins with a group of bikers driving fast on a motorway of the Greek capital. Early 80s disco atmosphere, shining balls and cola drinks in a modernizing but still misery city, the four friends are trying to secure some cash for the night drinks and the coffee, in different ways. The money is supposed to become the prominent problem. A bet that one of the friends loses and is unable to pay back leads to a physical assault, but in a romantic way the girlfriend of the rival biker chooses the bitten hero. Two more gang fights will follow but the second one will take place just after a comic (but eventually tragic) robbery of a wealthy man. The scene closes with the announcement of the judge's verdict and the grim part of the movie follows.
The Story B': a frightening "welcome" in the juvenile prison (in the reality the Korydalos prison) introduces the audience in a psychological thriller state. The four friends survive the system united but paying a painful price of the prison reality: forced homosexuality, ill treatment, psychological torture and illicit drugs. In a traditional Greek drama way the actors are alternating their play from been comedians and sarcastic of the insane reality to play the dramatic role of the trapped young prisoners. In this way they challenge our interest and the messages are smoothly transferred together with the entertainment.
The Psychological Truths Behind the Families: The 4 friends are reflecting 4 different family situation that are (in the movie) suggestive of a predisposition but perpetuation as well of the behaviors of the 4 friends. The divorced couple that has been torturing emotionally the son via their indifference for what is his reality, the military father who makes his son ridicule in front of his friends in the disco, the father with the connections but in denial for his son who denies to listen to him even when they are sitting each opposite the other in the visiting room of the prison and the poor old couple that after arranging a marriage of their daughter with a rich American (sending her away) are finding impossible to tolerate the aggression of the handsome son who dresses in sexy underwear.
The Psychological Truths Behind the Greek Prison System: a painful movie for anyone who has got an insight in the Greek Prison system. In some commends about this movie there is a suggestion for an "old" prison system. In the movie a reference by the chief officer in the Corfu Prison and the Yedi Coule (Thessalonika's old prison) are full of messages as they were supposed to be two of the nastiest prisons in modern Greece (Yedi Coule finally was shut down late 80s and the filthy reality came in the light; the prison was lacking even a sewage system!). Tsakiridis plays a classical and realistic role of the "God", the dirty prison warden. A tough moment is when the governor of the prison tries to play the soft supportive "father figure" and prompts the prisoners to talk. Matsas who plays the role was a fantastic choice. For the Greek audience he has been identified as the "traitor" in all the classical Greek movies. Therefore the audience expects the treason, which comes in the form of the punishment of those who were brave enough to complain.
The Movie: A diachronic and genuine movie that will entertain while the difficult things, the sensitive issues that are still impossible to be spoken aloud, are going to be communicated to the audience in the 90 minutes of a painful comedy.
Mathe paidi mou grammata (1981)
Historic political conflicts and a requiem of a dying Greek bucolic era, projected on the life of an old-fashioned School master
The theme: a windowed and old-fashioned School master is trying to survive by repeating the stories of glorious times of his nation. He represents the right-wing and faithful in the pre-1981 Greek state that find difficult to adjust and accept the failures of the representatives in achieving a well and democratically governed "Politia" (state).
He tries to establish an idealized world to defend him from what is in reality a psychological wreck: he remarries a colleague and holds on the idea that his first son who studies in Europe will one day return and fulfill his dreams (the country recognizing his own values and ideology via the success of his first son).
The conflict of the era, the suppressed (for almost 30 years) recognition of the left-wing supporters in the modern Greek history and the need for changes in the educational (and social) system are represented through two strong events: the love of his unsuccessful second son with a co-student of communist origin and the dramatic return of the well educated but unemployed first son.
For a Greek viewer the story would have been more realistic if it had taken place a decade prior to the date that it was released. It is expected that this movie had played a different role at that time (1981: the same year that the socialists came in power in Greece)compared to the experiences of a modern young viewer. The film is in great part outdated and it requires very good knowledge of the Balkan and Greek political realities. It lacks in objectivity in many dialogs and it clearly uses generalizations for some historic events e.g. argues the role of the greekorthodox church (claiming a negative role) for the whole last 2 centuries based on individual experiences of the heroes etc.
Good points for the modern and young Greek viewer: 1. The same questions are still not answered regarding the future of the qualified unemployed Greek scientists. 2. The traditional Greek anankastic and over-protective behavior of the father, who will go to extreme to provide education for his children but at the same time will go to extreme to save their "face", a social interpretation of his own "face" in the small Greek society.