Ulysses' Gaze (1995)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Not unlike Ulysses on his way to Ithaca or director A. witnessing decay and death in the native Balkans, the viewer of this film, too, must face many a pitfall. It's mostly mannerisms of a director to whom unpretentious realism seems to reek of vulgarity. Landscapes in the mist. Bleak city streets. Derelict interiors. Exiles. A lot of Weltschmerz. An aging intellectual, played by an international star, sporting a lot of Weltschmerz. A fiery young beauty. Bombastic dialogues/monologues from an existentialist stage play. Zombie-like extras assembling into strange patterns. A lot of symbols. Fake Ithaca. A huge lot of Weltschmerz.I liked the music of Eleni Karaindrou, the Bucharest flashback and images of stone Lenin. In my opinion, the movie itself resembles this monumental statue, self-important idol once "alive" but now - being sold to an Euro snob - cut to pieces and heading towards oblivion.Famous Polish actor Wojciech Pszoniak got an uncredited role, and famous Czech photographer Josef Koudelka simultaneously took b+w photos of the film's locations which I hereby strongly recommend. Believe me, they are light years ahead.

On the surface, this is deeply flawed; there's some awkward dialogue, Harvey Kietel is OK, not amazing, the female characters are thin. But it's so damn full of breathtaking images, brave cinematic choices, multi-minute long shots, and a heart rending climax, that the flaws don't seem important some how. The story: A Greek film director caught in his own mid-life artistic and personal crisis goes on an odyssey to find lost footage by Greece's first filmmakers, traveling through the Balkans and revisiting his own life in the process. I can certainly understand the mixed reviews. This isn't an easy film, and if watched in the wrong mood, or without knowing what you're getting into (a slow, thoughtful 3 hour rumination on life, the past and art) could be very off-putting. But accepted on its own terms, warts and all it's an amazing odyssey; visual, emotional and thematic.

I found this film very surreal. I don't know the history behind the story but I was not bored. When it was over I felt slowly transported to another time and place. The scene in the fog hit me in a very unusual way.This is not the film for someone who wants a smash boom, shoot 'em up thriller. I has a steady development and not the pace of an action film. If you enjoy films that are more cognitive you might like this one.Harvey Keitel does a lot of good films. He appears to choose projects that have interesting themes.I really liked it.

I am surprised that so many people commented positively on this film!Mr. Angelopoulos was trying to be epic and grandiose but he is just hollow. I had the impression that all the time he was saying: "O mortals, behold how much we, Greeks, have suffered over the century!" Yet, maybe except for Sarajevo at the end, there was not a single scene in this film, directed so that it will make one share a compassion for the things you see. Until the orchestra and fog of Sarajevo, all the feelings in this film remained declared but unfleshed.Many people here compare it to Underground. But Underground made me cry. While Odysseus only made me angry and later made me indifferent.By the way, it made me angry because it portrays a very unobjective helleno-centric view of the developments of the region. I do come from this region and I do have a pretty good knowledge on its history so this film cannot deceive me, but it would probably deceive thousands of viewers worldwide! I wouldn't complain about such an ethnocentric narrow-minded view from an average Greek citizen - all our nations are faulty in this regard. But definitely not from an artist claiming the standing of Mr. Angelopoulos!In fact, if you wonder how the infamous "deep-rooted tribal hatred" of the Balkans comes about - you might want to watch exactly this film as an example of an instrument to that end! The main suggestion of the film is that Greeks are the only fine people on the peninsula (similar feelings run in every country in the region). Despite, or because of that, they are awfully mistreated by the barbarians of the north for a hundred years. The barbarians of course are types living in total misery - both material and spiritual.