Michalis Iatropoulos Movies

Three couples who live in the same Athens apartment complex head out on vacation near the end of the summer season, only to bring their marital problems along with them in this comedy-drama from Greek filmmaker Constantine Giannaris. Fanis (Akylas Karazisis) and Morfoula (Eleni Kastani) are a blue-collar couple whose children have given them more than their fair share of challenges -- their son (Hristos Mitselos) is developmentally disabled, while their daughter (Maria Ioannidou) suffers from a rare blood disease. Fanis and Morfoula's vacation goes awry when their daughter disappears during a visit to a religious shrine. Kostas (Aimilios Heilakis) and Katia (Amalia Moutouzi) are a pair of thirty-something professionals who have begun to lose interest in one another, though Kostas is still capable of jealousy, as he discovers when Katia is clearly attracted to a handsome hitchhiker (Stathis Papadopoulos) they pick up. And Sandra (Theodora Tzimou) is ready to give up on her drug-addled husband Mihalis (Mihalis Iatropoulos) when he accidentally kills a man in a traffic accident, and the crisis leads them both to reveal hidden secrets about themselves. Meanwhile, a stranger (Kostas Kotsianidis) is rummaging through their apartments while they're gone, though his motivation seems focus on something other than profit. Dekapentavgoustos was screened in competition at the 2002 Thessaloniki Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this fact-based Greek film, set during the Greek civil war of the '40s, Vassiliki (Tamilla Koulieva-Karantinaki of Dharma Blue Bums), an attractive woman who aids communists in the forest, is raped by fascist soldier Loufakos (Paschalis Tsarouchas). When she falls in love with Loufakos, problems arise for the couple. Local women in her village spit at her, and his military superiors object to his relationship with an enemy woman. He leaves the service and makes an unsuccessful attempt at various business projects, while Vassliki winds up working in a tobacco factory. The factory's slimy owner Chryssonglou (Vassilis Papanikas) gives her a double blow: In addition to shafting Loufakos with a dirty business deal, he rapes Vassiliki's younger sister Smaragda (Vivian Kontomari). Vangelis Serdaris directed his own screenplay with visuals in the vein of romantic war dramas made during the '40s. Shown at the 1997 Thessaloniki Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi