Edge of Night

Afti I Nihta Meni is about the perennial pursue of our dreams and the imminent failure we are facing while on the road. The scenario is promising but the implementation fails. Sophomoric directing, unbelievable dialogues, lack of interaction and the artificially staged scenes estrange the audience. The poor sound quality doesn't help at all making this film realistic. The best part of it is that it jumps on the Thrace-is-cool bandwagon (a trend that was started by Ola Ine Dromos), showing us great landscapes and scenery. For you non-Greeks, Thrace is at the crossroads of East and West, bordering Bulgaria and Turkey. It is the most underdeveloped but perhaps also the most beautiful region of Greece. It definitely makes great cinema to present natural beauty along with poverty. The even better part is that it follows the provincial "dog clubs" depiction of Ola Ine Dromos, one of the most prominent expressions of decadence, now raised to cult status by urban Greeks. Athina Maximou is a visual pleasure, while Dimitra Pappiou (Athina's vocal replacement) tries desperately to be upgraded from the dog singer she actually is to a "serious" singer. About Stamatis Kraounakis and his "worship me" mentality, just a line from the film: Stella is asked about her repertoire and she answers that it is the late Manos Hadjidakis (a music icon in Greece) and ... Kraounakis! Now that's what I call modesty. Single-handedly the most annoying line in the whole movie.

In my previous comment, I wrote that the movie depicted rembetika clubs, but instead of "rembetika" I think the more appropriate word would have been "skiladika". Rembetika songs, which are like Greek blues, are very often sung by men and have become much more accepted as a legitimate music form. In skiladika clubs, however, women are the main attraction and usually its not for their extraordinary vocals.

By the greek standards of film making at the 90's this is one of the best and most complete artistic works of the decade. The photography of Haris Stavrou is captivating, the soundtrack by Stamatis Kraounakis and the songs singed by Dimitra Papiou was a big hit at the time. The portraying of the 'skyladika' which were and still are, the so called greek night clubs with live music its fantastic and realistic. But the center of the movie its the heartbreaking love between the two leading actors Maximoy and Kouris, which have great chemistry.

This is my first review and I felt the need to write something about this disaster of a movie. I cannot believe the 10 star reviews. it is laughable! Yes there is some truth and underlying meaning regarding this cheap type of entertainment (Skiladika) BUT it is portrayed in the most stupid and shallow way possible. The acting is bad, scenario is super weak, it is so cliche and you have nothing to gain from this movie. Please do not waste your time watching this movie, instead go and watch Little England or something that actually celebrates the art of cinema instead of this cult tragedy.

Nice movie different, Nikos Kouris quite as good as Maximu I liked and Markopoulos who in many places said things about life.