Dimitra Hatoupi Movies

Having fatally wounded his wife in an accidental shooting, a corrupt cop enlists the aid of his estranged brother in fleeing the country in director Nikos Grammatikos' dark crime drama. Andrew has killed his wife, and now his life has finally reached a dead end. Trapped in town with no one to turn to and little hope for escape, Andrew reaches out the brother he hasn't spoken to in nearly a decade. Now a priest with little interest in serving as an accomplice but sincere sympathy for his brother's plight, Nick reluctantly agrees to spirit Andrew through the city, put him in touch with his underworld contacts, and get him cross the border without drawing the attention of the authorities. As the pair takes a whirlwind trip through some of the seediest parts of the city, the wild adventure they embark on will serve as both a wake for Andrew's recently deceased wife, and his shaky relationship with Nick as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Noted Greek director Panos Karkanevatos creates this romantic drama about thwarted love in the Balkans. At the behest of her overbearing brother, attractive student Konstantina (Fotini Papadodima) dumps her musician lover Nikolas (Yorgos Karamihos) when she becomes pregnant. Grieved, Nikolas leaves his quiet village for the bustle of Thessaloniki, where he gets involved in the smuggling of illegal immigrants from the Balkans. Among them is Elena (Lena Kitsopoulou), a gorgeous, though flat broke blonde from Russia. As the romantic chemistry builds between the two, Nikolas learns that Konstantina has moved to the port city. This film was screened at the 1999 Thessaloniki Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Marios learns that he is HIV positive and is convinced that this situation arose either from his wife, whom he discovers has been having an affair, or his mistress. He gets his wife to have a blood test and she, too, is HIV positive. He is planning to get a divorce and marry his mistress when she reveals that she's been quite promiscuous and is HIV positive herself -- and doesn't want to marry him. Her way for bringing home to him the extent of her promiscuity is quite novel: she has him watch a slide show composed solely of pictures with her and her various holiday boyfriends. Since Marios was hoping to get free from his loveless marriage, this news doesn't please him much. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The civil war in Greece motivates the storyline of Caravan Sarai. Thimos Karakatsanis plays a rural villager who must leave the house where he's dwelt virtually all his life. He and his two children are evacuated to the city, where they are billeted in a small apartment. Here they (and we) remain until the end of the film. Despite the film's limited playing area, quite a lot occurs in Caravan Sarai -- too much, in fact, to suit the peace-loving protagonists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An older, provincial tanner can no longer compete with the large companies that have moved in and taken his customers away -- he is not able to modernize due to a lack of funding, and he feels inadequate when it comes to learning the new technology anyway. His plight is reflected in the lives of the other villagers as well, but it is also put in perspective when the traditionally gender-biased villagers mistreat women (a woman is raped in one scene so she will be forced to marry the man), or demonstrate their interest in self-image over truth, or reveal their inability to adapt to modern "capitalist" norms. These themes drive the plot from beginning to end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi