Nisos

Just watched "νηsos" or "The Island" as how IMDb translates this.

Got to say this comedy movie is one of the best created in Greece and there is no wonder why! The story is about a will of a business man and the havoc it creates.The plot becomes a bit darkened but clever.

Shooted in Sifnos,an island located at western Cyclades in the Aegean sea, contains beautiful view for the whole time of the movie, natural landscapes ,but also traditional Greek island neighborhoods and buildings.

The humour is brilliant and I found myself laughing all the time.A well picked cast,supports the humour and plot as they deserve.

If a slightly better end existed I would rate this better,but it is one of the funniest and enjoyably movies that I have seen.

This movie has been a huge commercial success in Greece having cut more tickets even than Avatar in a similar time-span.Critical response has been more mixed. My personal opinion is that the movie is fine although it has some scenes and language that can be offensive to minors. It strove to reproduce the Greek every-day vernacular which can be obscene relatively often. The actors and actresses are effective in their roles especially the two male leads playing the arch-villains, the mayor and the chief-constable. Zeta Douka has a very sexual persona in the character she portrays and Lambrogianni plays with subdued pathos a woman with a past. Best of all is Kastani in the role of the adopted protégé of the late notable. Although the movie is light, humorous and sexy it can live a sad taste because of the rotten character of the local notabilities it portrays and along with them of Greek provincial society.The locale of the Greek island is inspiring and this gives to the movie an edge over "I love Karditsa" another Greek comedy in many ways similar and in many ways different, which does not have the advantage of a Cyclades locale but the more drab and mundane locale of rural mainland Greece.

If you are anything like me that gets annoyed by the modern Greek comedies because of their hysterical and sex obsession character, this movie is for you. Not that there are not hysterical or sex related jokes but I think they're well balanced.

The movie is funny, the plot is complex and interesting and says something about how dysfunctional Greek family/society can be. The characters are nicely drawn, the actors are fantastic. The location the movie is shot is beautiful and the production is really good. All in all a really nice Greek comedy which will make you laugh big times. Recommended.

This film is brilliant. Is one of my favourite Greek movies. The story is about a small Greek Island where a wealthy man dies and is willing to give his money to the teacher, the priest, the mayor and the police officer ("the authorities") of the island. However this will happen only if they accept to be read out loud in front of all the people one letter that the deceased man has written for each on of them. That's how all the fun starts with as all of them have been involved with illegal activities and have many things that don't want to come to light. This event sparks off hilarious reactions and conditions presenting though the ugly side of a small community. It shows what happens behind closed doors and that nobody is who they seem to be with a cosmically way. It's a great comedy film with suspense , action and plot twists that keep the viewer's attention till the end. I highly recommended it.

This movie's ambition is to cauterize the life of a small island community, full of petty backbiting and rampant hypocrisy, in a comical way. It starts rather dynamically, but it runs out of steam very soon. In fact, once the basic setting is revealed, the movie dispenses endlessly one cliche after another.

If not imaginary, the humour is dull and corny. There is not a single line of witty dialogue throughout the entire movie. All we see is hysterical chases, unnecessarily loud conversations, out-of-place swearing and gags that have already been performed a zillion times better in other (and, needless to say, far greater) comedies in the past. Even the naughty scenes are lazily written.

I admit that the story is based on a very clever idea, but that's as far as it goes. After the first twenty minutes it becomes pretty obvious that the creators haven't really figured out what to do with the plot. The movie's finale is a ridiculous circus, which hardly comes as a surprise, as almost every Greek comedy in the last decades can't be considered a real comedy, unless it ends in a more or less absurd fashion. And, by the way, the constant breaking of the fourth wall shows lazy writing, not sophistication.

It's a shame, because the actors that appear in this movie are all very able and talented, but in this case they are given absolutely nothing to work with. I, for one, wouldn't judge them (or their performances in this project) too harshly.

In any case, this movie sold so well that it was (un)lucky enough to get a sequel, the utterly boring and not even remotely funny "Nisos 2".

Personally, I am greatly disheartened to see how contemporary Greek comedies continue to rely, rather obsessively, on raw humour and vulgar jokes, especially at a time when there are so many other interesting paths to be explored.

Let's hope that things will improve someday!