Landscape in the Mist

I found this to be "heavy handed" in more than just the literal sense. Angelopoulos is a master of the slow tempo, I'll give him that. He makes space seem full. Full of what, though? An unaccomplished Tonino Guerra script serves only as a giveaway of the director's aspirations. He tries to be a touch fantastic like Fellini, use long uninterrupted shots like Tarkovsky and big, ominous symbolistic sceneries like Antonioni, but the sources do it better. The story, like the music, is kind of sappy.

There's a lot of great shots in this one (like A LOT), but I couldn't really connect with them - it felt like the kids' quest was just an excuse for self-serving symbolism (great as that symbolism may be).

dry, grey, generally just lacking any genuine emotion or soul. characters were cardboard cutouts speaking in contrived poetics and acting out stiff animatronic tableau rather than actual living people. way up its own ass.

I actually quite liked it, but I couldn't get overly involved in it. I think the problem is with the characters, as they weren't very well developed or interesting. I did like everything else, but the lack of connection with the characters prevented it all from working as well as it should. I have a feeling I'd like it more on a rewatch or at another time, so I may try it again in a few years.

A road movie with two good child performances about two kids trying to find their father in Germany and the things that happen along the way. There are some great, very effective scenes here, and the movie on the whole has a strong mood. I don't think it 100% works--there are some parts that drag a bit and certain aspects can be a bit dry, but when it's good, it's really good, and it's beautiful to look at.

it's impossible to watch at 1x, I don't like anyone in it, and they don't do anything useful

Grandish camerawork; boring, heavy-handed, bloated-infected poetry. Next.

The story was really lyrical and captured me very badly. Search for an unknown father figure by two children was great and had deeper meaning I suppose. Their confontration with the realities of the life on this journey was poetic but also very realistic. Yet, the scenario felt like sloopy and the most of the music was like a part of a melodrama.

Films like this cut a cross-section in the land and history of Europe. Under the grey dust an archeologist film sees the different layers of generations in Greece and by magic it tries to open us the historical view which couldn't be obtained by pure approach of realism.

Disc conked out after an hour, so make of the score what you will. Road movies are hard to get right. Poetic ones about children on obscure searches are even harder to get right.

A cinematographic wonder with a poetic slant, but is still drenched in dreaded realism. The visuals really do just about most of the storytelling, however its the kids and their rather good acting and their pained journey that grounds this film in a child-like whimsy in the face of the indifferent and monotonous society they find themselves in.

A pretentious, heavy-handed, often startlingly beautiful snail of a coming-of-age film. Theo can offer a blinding and imaginative shot the one minute and a pathetic, half-assed symbolism the next (mostly when he resorts to dialogue and his cast -notably Tzortzoglou- is hardly any help). It can be a struggle but there are enough stunners here to leave one in awe despite the boredom and, oh, I upped the rating 5 points for the final shot alone.

the prodigal father kicks again

#824

A poetic exploration of lost souls searching for answers, richly poetic and deeply symbolic, with gorgeous moments of magic realism and heartbreaking episodes of cruelty. I admit the meaning of some scenes eluded me, but each one is rewarding in some way. Angelopoulos uses performance, music, environment and framing to craft tableaus that seem to stir a deep yearning, or crushing sadness. I got a strong Antonioni vibe from it, perhaps closest to Red Desert and its haunting industrial vistas.

Angelopoulos' most overwrought work.

710

# 695