Landscape in the Mist
1988
Directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos
I didn't realize that this was the same director who created Traveling Players, a four hour long monotonous nightmare of a film that I was forced to sit through a few months ago. With this movie, I had to relive my horror all over again, although at least this one wasn't as long.
Voula and Alexandros are told by their mother that their father lives in Germany. Armed with this vague information, the two children run away from home and try to get to their father. Along the way, they meet Orestis, a young actor who looks out for them for a while. Other people they run into aren't so friendly. This ends our streak of films without rape, which was currently at two. Impressive, right?
I have never seen anyone film a movie at such a maddeningly slow place. It's not artistic; it's just annoying. Obviously the director doesn't value the viewers' time. And then when something does actually happen, it's incredibly upsetting. I am in a really bad mood, so I am particularly vicious today.
Really not a must see and I am glad we are putting this director behind us.
RATING: *----
Interesting Facts:
The tagline is "a voyage of initiation." The most pretentious piece of nonsense I have ever heard.
These were a bit (bit? Ha!) of an endurance trial weren't they? That said, I found this one a lot more rewarding than 'Traveling players' . And that despite this having kids in it ..
ReplyDeleteI can be incredibly patient and forgiving of slow films .. hey, come on, how many Bergman's have we disagreed on, and I decidedly like Bella Tarr.. So I will beg to differ just a little on this. I don't remember you doing 'Traveling..', or rather, what I said about it ..
I liked this one better too, although that might just be because of the length.
Deleteok, yes, it's yet another rape. However, this time at least it not a frivolous resource to establish a male character and the physical and psychological consequences are portrayed. I like how they handle the character after that. Other than that, yes, it's long and boring. When I saw the traveling players coming back I almost scream in horror.
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