Nikos Kouros Movies
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, this drama centers on the Balkan conflict as viewed through the eyes of a filmmaker named A (Harvey Keitel). Director Theo Angelopoulos wrote the screenplay, drawing from personal experiences. A is a Greek émigré director who returns to his homeland after 35 years in the U.S., ostensibly to screen his latest film, which is so controversial that it attracts religious protests. In fact, A's real purpose is to search for three reels of undeveloped film that may be the first ever shot by pioneer Balkan filmmakers the Manakis brothers, who documented simple circa-1900 peasant life. A's Homeric journey includes flashbacks into past historical events. He travels by taxi to Albania, where he enlists the help of a film archivist (Maia Morgenstern, who plays all four female roles). She joins him on a train ride to Bucharest, Romania. An extensive flashback chronicles A's childhood under Communism in Bucharest. His next stop is Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, where he is directed to Sarajevo. Angelopoulos mixes scenes shot during the actual Balkan war with historic re-enactments and dreamscapes to examine the role of the artist in political upheaval. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Maia Morgenstern, (more)
The owner of an aircraft salvage company (Viggo Mortensen) is reported killed in a crash. However, his wife (Andie MacDowell) knows better, and she decides to find him and his secret bank accounts. She travels around the world, and winding up in Cairo, she meets Liam Neeson, who helps her uncover her husband's smuggling scheme. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Andie MacDowell, Liam Neeson, (more)
Produced, directed and written in his traditionally episodic fashion by Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos, the internationally produced Landscape in the Mist concentrates on a pair of runaway children, played by Tania Palaiogou and Michalis Zeke. The kids are en route to Germany, where they believe their father is dwelling. The adventures during their trek range from heartwarming (the kids are briefly "adopted" by a group of itinerant actors and by affable cyclist Stratos Tzortzoglou) and harrowing (Palaiogou is raped by a callous truck driver). The film's title refers to the kids' perception of the "promised land" of Germany. Landscape in the Mist was the recipient of numerous festival awards, including the 1988 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tania Palaiologou, Michalis Zeke, (more)
- 1986
In this compelling drama, Marcello Mastroianni gives a tour-de-force interpretation of a disillusioned middle-aged man, a bee keeper who inherited the passion for his vocation from his father. After weeping silently at the end of his daughter's wedding ceremony, Spyros (Mastroianni) leaves in his truck to check on his bee hives and in the process gets involved with a winsome young hitchhiker (Nadia Mourouzi). She makes some advances which he immediately rejects, yet it is clear that he is ambivalent about her. Next he pays his respects to the people who have meant something to him in his life: his ex-wife, an old friend, and his daughter. Each time he mysteriously truncates his visit, and the enigma of what lies unsaid deepens after he encounters the hitchhiker again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Nadia Mourouzi, (more)
- 1977
This drama explores the activities of a small group of Greek leftists who supported a 1949 attempted left-wing takeover of their government. As they adjust to the failure of the coup, they help one another out and move on in their daily lives. One man, who was known to have betrayed one of his friends, has a particularly difficult time. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vangelis Kazan
