Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic Greek Tragedy, 18 Jul 2006
"Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow" is a visual feast of superbly imagined and exquisitely constructed images. It is similar in nature to the films of Tarkovsky and Tarr with their slow tracking shots,beautiful settings and long pensive silences. "Trilogy" follows the tale of a brother and adopted sister's love affair from 1919 to 1945 and the film is set against events from Greek history during that time such as the flight from Odessa,the rise of Fascism and the Second World War. The path of true love never runs smoothly and most of the leading characters are no strangers to tragedy as this epic film unfolds. Memorable images abound in the film; the avenue of sheets by the railway, the wedding, the theatre and the remarkable funeral scenes by the river. This alone makes this film worth a 5 star rating. The only downside of the film is the somewhat less than charismatic acting by the two main characters, Alexi and Eleni, who fail to make the most of their sumptuous surroundings, often leaving the viewer indifferent to their plight.
|
|
|
52 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Angelopoulos reaches new heights, 9 May 2005
By A Customer
Whilst many of the cinematic methods and visual symbols in 'The Weeping Meadow' will be familiar to those who know Angelopoulos' work this film does signal a new departure. The novel element is not so much the substantive issue considered - after all, a history of Greece is present in most of his films - but the way in which the director achieves a genuine coherence. He has described his view of film making as breathing - each shot must live as if it has its own life. But where 'The Weeping Meadow' achieves something better for the director (as well as the viewer) is in the fact that the whole film breathes together - it is utterly seamless from start to finish. Artifical Eye has promised the issue all of this director's work on DVD. That is welcome because he is the world's leading film maker. Angelopoulos, as Bresson once said, paints with cinema.
|
|
|
15 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning cinematography but dramatically tedious, 31 Aug 2006
It is with some trepidation that I say, given the glowing reviews, I cannot regard this film with much regard. The cinematography is original and sometimes quite stunning. There is, for example, a sequence showing a funeral cortege consisting of a raft with the coffiin followed by a small flotilla of rowing boats in formation. The boats are rowed by oarsmen standing in the stern. The pattern of the moving oars, en masse, gives the scene a rhythmic beauty. Everything is grey. It takes some sort of filmic genius to conceive something like that. A similar, less poetic, scene with rowing boats occurs when the village is flooded. The Greece of this film is a wet, grey place, intensified by the somewhat desaturated colours. Other features of the director's technique are the very, very slow tracking shot, slowly moving in on the subject. These can be very effective used with discretion but there are many such episodes and my reaction was one of irritation as one succeeded another. Close up shots are not used, in fact the camera never lets you see any faces in detail as they are seen no nearer than 20-30 feet, I would guess. I cannot say that I know what any of the main characters looks like. Moustache or not, yes. Colour of hair, yes. Young or old, yes. But not the detailed facial features which makes people real.
Dramatically, the story moves at a snail's pace. Dialogue is confined to an occasional exchange of sentences, none of them very profound. In one episode, the hero is asked to play his accordion at a gig with colleagues from the theatre where he lives. When the band arrived at the cafe, it was closed. There was no outrage or even irritation at being led on a wild goose chase. They didn't even ask why the venue was closed or promise revenge on the owner for wasting their time. They just turned round and went home. This seemed exactly the way a group of musicians, temperamental and sensitive souls but with a sense of fun, would not react. It also ignored the dramatic potential of the little situation. Not that emotion is not displayed elsewhere: the young woman who has run away with the hero cries a lot but doesn't say much. The characters drift along with minimal interaction. You don't know what they look like in detail, you don't know what they are thinking on the whole, so it is difficult to identify with them. It is an elegiac film but even so there is no humour and no laughs from the musicians or the characters in the cafe-bar. The emotion displayed is somehow deracinated and fails to induce the empathy in the viewer that it normally would.
Doubtless, the director's intention was to do exactly that and I dare say he had good reasons. However, my reaction was increasing boredom as the very long film crept along. I was disappointed.
|
|
|
|
![Trilogy - The Weeping Meadow [DVD] [2004]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YF3C3W5RL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![A Touch Of Spice [DVD] [2003]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XXmyufwVL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Sátántangó [1994] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5124YA5WZNL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Man From London [DVD] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rLzJvGQhL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![A Touch Of Spice [DVD] [2003]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XXmyufwVL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ George Corraface
![Sátántangó [1994] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5124YA5WZNL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Peter Berling
![Mother And Son [1997] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uXGvfOvUL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Alexei Ananishnov
![Man From London [DVD] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rLzJvGQhL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Istvan Lenart
![The Bela Tarr Collection [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Mzg-BedLL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Erika Bok
