To mikro psari

Live your myth in -post economy crisis- greece of the 10's

It is generally a well-made film with an interesting plot, very good directing, and excellent acting by every one of its actors, even those playing minor characters. The strikingly empty, unpopulated spaces that predominate throughout the film seem to reflect well the inner emptiness and lack of feelings of the characters, and they are in contrast with the colourful, noisy scene towards the end, which I perceived as reflecting the fact that the last act of the protagonist was the only one driven by his emotions. On the negative side, I found that some repetitions were unnecessary and made me a little bored halfway through the film. In the last 45 minutes, however, the narration flows swiftly again and, by the end, my full interest was back again. Overall, the story is that of violence and crime that does not make you leaving the theatre with a grin on your face, but the more you think of it afterwards the more you like it. Certainly worth seeing.

If you lived a criminal life, it won't be easy to just step out of it. We know that cliché, even if we never actually had anything to do with criminal life itself. And even (or even more so) in a financially unstable country as Greek, there is always some interests to gain and money to launder.

This does concentrate on a small fish (hence the title) trying to survive in the pond (to make the picture complete). It is understated and sort of mellow. But not mellow when it comes to the language. There is a lot of swearing going on and a lot of repetition. To a point where it gets annoying. It might be the world our character is living at, but the apathy is not appealing nor does it really enhance the viewing experience.

Having said that, the movie is also violent and does quite a few things right. You do know where this is going (paying respect to some great movies, especially with that ending), but never achieving the greatness it set out to. A decent effort that clogs itself up, hindering it to really achieve its full potential

"The Small Fish" (aka "Stratos") is an intense and dramatic portrait of contemporary Greece, seen through the eyes of Stratos, a contract killer who works during the day in a bakery, where he silently and passively witnesses the exploitation of workers. His life acquires another meaning when he is behind his car wheel, with a gun in his pocket and a mission to accomplish. But do not think that the movie is executed in correspondence with the dramatic intensity of his criminal life. Not that "The Small Fish" is a bland film either. The point is that director Yannis Economides opted to tell the story from the other side of Stratos' personality. It is really a problem for Stratos, that he has a very soft heart: he is giving all his money to Yorgos, the brother of a guy called Leonidas, who once saved his life, so that Yorgos can execute a plan to free Leonidas from a maximum security prison; and Stratos also sees after a family that lives across his apartment building, that includes a dying grandfather, a little daughter, a disabled father and a very young prostitute mother -who in fact could be the little girl's sister too, but who knows... everything about Stratos' concerns is dark or faint, while those who surround him are screaming, bullying or abusing everybody, including him, of course. He has a violent past and after many years in jail two mob factions want his services. This is just an idea of the main plot elements but there are more that complicate the proceedings, and it takes 133 minutes to reach a fine resolution. Without pointing out the national crisis, unemployment, breaking of moral codes, or unethical actions, "The Small Fish" gives a rich panorama of what a great empire as Greece has become in the 21st century, which should also serve as a warning to the empire of the day and its citizens. And yes, the Greek title "To mikro sari" (that is, the small fish) refers to the popular saying, "Big fish eat small fish".

The movie tells the tale of Stratos, a weathered hit-man, who more-or- less wants to leave the past behind him. But as we know from other gangster-stories, once you get in it's hard to get out.

This is a very slow-paced crime drama. Well directed, with an impressive lead actor and good, believable cast. There are many well-composed scenes that create a desolate world, and one has to wonder how close to the real Greece that is.

The only (but important) element that bothered me was the length, which is mostly due to an exaggerated amount of minimalistic long scenes. The story was compelling enough, I wish it was just edited-down a bit. But I respect the director and his vision.

After the screening, here at the Ghent Film Festival, I've overheard someone say "this is like the Greek Drive, but at least Drive had style". I disagree with that remark and would not compare the two films at all.