R.I.P Theo Angelopoulos....

[Built_To_Last]

Why no thread about this? He is Greece's most famous director, and one of the greatest film makers of the last 40 or so years. It's true that he was often appreciated more by foreigners than Greeks, but that does not change the fact that his contributions to the art of film were significant. Many of the greatest directors of all time were huge fans of his work. e.g Bresson, Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Scorsese etc etc.




it's a shame he had to die the way he did.

[gm2263]

He will always remembered as the filmmaker that died "in the line of duty". Some of his movies included internationally acclaimed actors like Harvey Keitel and Bruno Ganz. Overall, one of the best of his generation worldwide.

Definitely one of the biggest contemporary film directors although I prefer Nikos Nikolaidis myself. Much more personal, he manages to make massive political statements on a personal level without needing to dwell on political and ideological reservoirs to enrich the messages in his movies.

[Built_To_Last]

I must respectfully disagree with you on this one GM. I like N.N too, but his style wasn't nearly as refined, and occasionally he moved too far into the realm of outright kitsch for my taste.

I think Angelopoulos' movies were incredibly personal. All of them. They all reflected his own views on Greece's past and present, as well as that of Europe and all of humanity, and no other director in Greece built a coherent body of work like Theo. Theo's films can be identified just by looking at them.

He was Greece's true auteur. It's a shame that he is mostly known now for his later works like Ulysses Gaze and Eternity and a Day. His 70's and 80's films were so much better.

GM, what's Theo's status among the younger generations of Greek film goers? The impression i got when i lived there years ago is that they thought his films were slow and boring--if they had even seen them--and that they generally preferred directors like Nikos Nikolaidis.

[gm2263]

Actually nobody in a sovereign state of mind would claim that Aggelopoulos was a bad cinematographer. The Greek movie establishment and the knowledgeable audiences like him AND respect him.

In my view Aggelopoulos had a style without being stylized, relying more on visual lyricism than the theatrical acting skills of his actors whom the power of his visual imagery was protecting them in a way and gave them a lusciously painted canvas to perform. In a way Aggelopoulos was a visual architect more than he was an image capturer in my view. I have seen very few excerpts of his works and I observed that his technique resembles much of the one of an architecture photographer or movie maker and in this, I love him. It is the idea of the frame in which action takes place. Plus, in distant shots, the camera follows the epicenter of the action kind of Peter Greenaway in slow motion with much less detailed frames and much less color in them. Aggelopoulos's power from what I saw lies in the "cry in silence", in the fact that a silent image builds a loud and powerful statement. Interesting, now that I am looking back, I may pay a thorough visit to his work.

As for Nikolaidis, Ironically he died older than Aggelopoulos, I like the Rock and Roll atmosphere (with the exception of his experimental sort of movies like Singapore Sling and The Zero Years which I liked for their anti-conformist settings). Totally different, I remember I was shocked at the resemblance of his scenic organization in "the Sweet Gang" (Γλυκειά Συμμορία) With Riddley Scott's "Blade Runner" indoor scenes.

Anyway, long talk, good to have it but there's so much to say and there's so little time...

But no, overall I too believe that objectively, Aggelopoulos is probably the best we have to offer in this context and yes, he belongs in my view to the league of the best directors in Europe.

[Pythagoras]

It was shocking news for everyone in Greece as Theodoros Angelopoulos was considered one of the greatest (if not the greatest) Greek filmmakers. It was a pity that he didn't manage to complete the last movie of his recent Trilogy...

Like you, i am also fan of his earliest films such as "Landscape in the Mist", and "Voyage to Kythira" even though i am ashamed to admit that i haven't watched any of his recent movies.

[elizamaria]

His daughter will complete the movie. The youngest one.

[Built_To_Last]

Agree Gm, Angelopoulos was a visual film artist. He told stories with images, and the films were generally quite melancholy in tone. Bresson once said that he 'painted with light', and film was his canvas, and that about sums it up. I'd say he was like a mix between Antonioni, Jansco and Tarkovsky personally, but he definitely had his own style.

PYTHAGORAS: By earlier films i meant his more overtly political ones like The Travelling Players, The Hunters, and Alexander The Great. Voyage To Cythera and Landscape In The Mist are two of my favourites too.

As for his later films, you aren't missing much. I think diminishing returns began to set in around the time of Ulysses Gaze, his most internationally famous film, but he never made a bad movie though.