Eternity And A Day **
not rated Artistic License/Merchant Ivory Films in Greek with English subtitles starring Bruno Ganz, Isabelle Renauld, Achileas Skevis, Despina Bebedeli, Iris Chatziantoniou, Helene Gerasimidou, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Vassilis Seimenis written by Theo Angelopolous, Tonino Guerra, Petros Markaris and Giorgio Silvagni directed by Theo Angelopolous
Theo Angelopolous is considered by some critics to be an excellent filmmaker. Maybe they see something I don't see, but I absolutely can't stand the guy. I recently rented "Ulysses' Gaze" --Angelopolous' best-known film-- and it was just awful. The film was three hours long and starred Harvey Keitel in multiple roles which he would change back and forth from without a hint(sometimes he would change characters in the middle of a scene). Overall, it was a meandering, confusing "experience". But Angelopolous' trademark is his long, pointless shots of nothing that he mistakenly calls art. There are a lot of these shots in the slow, weak, and ambiguously titled "Eternity And A Day".
I say that it's ambiguously titled because apart from its meaning that pertains to the film it also shows us something about Theo Angelopolous' filmmaking style. The film seems to last an "eternity", while the film is supposed to take place in a "day". Please take this hint, Mr. Angelopolous.
"Eternity And A Day", which somehow won the Palme D'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival, documents a day in the life of Alexander(Bruno Ganz), an older, Greek man who is "leaving" tomorrow. We never truly know where he is going, but he keeps reminiscing about a former lover named Anna(Isabelle Renauld). Their story never really makes much sense, but it's supposed to blur the lines between pain and desire. You see, Alexander is a writer/poet who kept his work separate from his lover and his daughter. But he chose to work on his poetry and pushed away his family and his love.
The more conventional storyline of the film involves Alexander's travels with a little, soft-spoken boy whom he has saved from the hands of the law. The boy is an illegal immigrant from Albania and Alexander feels that it is his duty to return him to his home. Things work out a little differently, however.
Also intertwined is the story of a 19th-century Italian poet who came to Greece and "bought" words so that he would be able to speak their language. This subplot doesn't seem to have much relevance to the film, but it takes up some time, which is what Angelopolous really seems to strive for.
It surprises me that a film with so few words could use four writers...
"Eternity And A Day" is easier to follow than "Ulysses' Gaze"(which isn't saying much), but it still lacks the quality needed to hold a picture together. There is absolutely no movement in the film, and no intrigue either. "Ulysses' Gaze" was partly a political film, but "Eternity" has nothing to prove, and gives little insight into the recent turmoil in the Balkan region.
This film won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1998 over films such as "Life Is Beautiful", but it is only now rolling out into a few theatres in Los Angeles and New York. The Merchant Ivory production team has added their name to the film, but no major distributor tried to pick up the film. Theo Angelopolous definitely has stories to tell, but he needs to learn how to weave his stories into an involving film.. Otherwise, he should keep them to himself.
Note: "Pulp Fiction" also won the Palme D'Or at Cannes. I didn't find too many similarities between the two films. Hmm...
a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://teenagemoviecritic.8m.com
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