Eternity and a Day
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Movie Reviews of Eternity and a Day
Movie Review: 5 Stars for a beautiful, transcendent film... 1 Star for New Yorker's DVD transfer
Summary: 3 Stars
This film doesn't need me as an advocate. It won the 1998 Palme d'Or and deservedly so. It is a beautiful, meditative, thought-provoking film. Like the Amazon editorial indicated, it is akin to Bergman's "Wild Strawberries," and Kurosawa's "Ikiru." Like them, at its centre is an old man, at the end of his life, looking back, trying to find some meaning to it all. Here is a man, who for all his life has been absorbed by two things, himself and his work. He coasts through life not really relating to those nearest and dearest to him. Now at the end of his life, he opens a letter from his long-dead wife; a letter which speaks of her love for him and recounts what for her was a very special day, but which for him, was just another day which slipped away without much thought. As he reads the letter, he relives that "perfect" day; one that meant so much to his wife but to which he himself was an almost absent participant. He tries to make amends for his life-long distancing and aloofness by trying to help a little Albanian runaway. But in the end, it is too little too late.
In the word-game he plays with the Albanian child, the boy brings him three words which actually make up the central themes of the film. The first word, "Korfulamu," refers to the tender love between mother and child; the second, "Xenitis," refers to being in exile, being a stranger or an outsider; and the third word, "Argathini," means late in the night, or simply too late. He chants these words repeatedly at the end of the film. For these words encapsulate his life. And they encapsulate the themes of this haunting film. But Angelopulos makes clear it is not a pessimistic film. In the final scene before he enters the Hospital to die, he asks the memory of his wife, "How long does Tomorrow last?" and she replies, "An Eternity and a Day." In the end, you have the choice. However short your time, you can make even the slightest act, the most significant; even the briefest moment last forever.
Sadly this film will not appeal to most Americans. Like the previous reviewer has put it so succinctly, most will see it as "excruciatingly slow" and "boring". I also liked the way another reviewer described how its briefest shots are "longer than the longest shots in most Hollywood movies". It is languid. It is not meant to be hurried through. It is an "art-film" and if anything, it is visual poetry. It does require some maturity and will appeal to those who have reached a stage where they can look back and ponder. Give it the chance and you will be rewarded.
Alas, New Yorker Video continues its tradition of shoddy DVD transfers. The print is exceedingly dark. The picture is extremely soft, at points blurry. Nicks, scratches and dirt specks abound. The film is presented in its original 1.66:1 widescreen, letterboxed into a 4:3 frame. It has not been enhanced for widescreen TV. We are given the original Greek 2.0 Dolby Surround track. Sound is serviceable. Optional English subtitles are provided. The Extras are surprisingly very good. The highlight is a 22-minute introduction by Andrew Horton, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He talks of the film in relation to Homer's Odyssey, Angelopulos' visual style, postmodernism and Angelopulos' standing in the history of Cinema. There is a 10-minute "Analysis of a shot," made for French TV, in which Angelopulos himself talks about his shooting style. This is in French with optional English subtitles. Finally there is a collection of Greek poetry from Solomos, Seferis and Cavafy, all in English translations. Solomos is the poet featured in the fantasy sequences and whose poem, the film's protagonist spent his whole life trying to complete. There is also an 8-page foldout featuring an informative interview with Angelopulos. However, the film itself deserves a much better transfer. Hopefully Criterion can release it someday, suitably restored, so it can stand alongside their lovely restorations of the Bergman and Kurosawa classics to which it has been compared.
Movie Review: Long day's journey into trite
Summary: 2 Stars
There are so many wonderful slow-paced movies out there, why waste your time on this one. An old man has no friends other than his dead wife. On what he thinks is his last day on the planet, he mopes about, reminiscing. Even the injection of a troubled boy takes too long to have much effect on Mr. Morosity.
I know the Greek history, and cinematography. The long takes are indeed interesting, and the only interesting thing about this movie other than Ganz's fine acting. The transfer, BTW, is execrable.
The extra film of the academic explaining the symbolic and literary antecedents was amusing and annoying: the former for its silly professorialisms; the latter for forcing ill-fitting and ultimately unnecessary parallels with Homer's Odyssey on the story.
One other element of merit, however: glimpses of the desperate refugee underclass and undercurrent of human trafficking.
If you like slow, predictable downers and deserted, half-constructed buildings, this film is for you!
Movie Review: The Ottoman Empire & Greece
Summary: 2 Stars
Hey, how come I'm the only one to review this film so far? The subtitles failed at the end. It didn't matter because I think the director had no idea how to end the film. It was a big muddle with lots of wonderful scenery. The pace was often excruciatingly slow with slow long pans to nothing special. It was kind of like film students made this film. The poet with the stovepipe hat who came back from Italy to fight the ottoman empire was too too boring. But Greece was just lovely. Is there really a fence around Albania? Why were those people hanging on the fence? Was the point of the story that the guy spent too much time on the job? The daughter sure turned out to be a stinker.Movie Review: This Film Was a Waste of Time
Summary: 1 Stars
Bruno Ganz is a great actor but he was miscast in this role. It is way too obvious that he does not speak in this movie, perhaps because he does not speak Greek. This considerably diminished his acting to the point of being unconvincing. The least they could have done is a better dubbing job. The character he attempts to play is completely self-absorbed, with very little regard for anyone else who is still living and even reality in general. He should have been a happy man who had a good life before becoming ill, especially when his life is compared to that of the trafficked children. But he was very miserable. He seems to have failed in all his relationships with everyone, except for the Albanian boy. The relationship with the boy was not well-developed, however, and it is not clear why Alexandre rescued him. It could be his last desperate attempt to somehow redeem himself, but even that is not consistent with the way he is otherwise. His character is not the least bit appealing. His ponderings seem vain and futile. I felt nothing for him. I could not even sympathize with his suffering due to illness - he was so unconvincing that it looked like he was pretending. The boy did a good acting job, and the images of Greece from Alexandre's past were beautiful. Still, I could not wait for this film to end. I kept wondering what this film was really about. After seeing the striking landscape of hanging human bodies at the Albanian border, I figured that it is an art film for specialized clientele which is supposed to be inscrutable to general audience. To me it seemed to be too long, boring, contrived and pretentious to even give it one star.
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