To mikro psari

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.

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.

This is a contemporary film noir. A bleak, harsh look at a society in deep crisis not only of an economic nature but a crisis of moral values as well, where people have lost their moral compass and literally everything is for sale.

It's language is really harsh and this serves the story well because on the one hand it has to do with the mob and on the other hand it signifies the lack of any hope of the main character escaping from the path of the existential annihilation that naturally follows in the end.

People who don't appreciate or understand this realistic depiction of the way the mobsters talk in this movie are the same people who never appreciated the message of movies like Natural Born Killers and thus decided to exhaust their criticism talking about the violence and swearing. No, Ekonomides is not Oliver Stone by any means, but still he's one of the most promising Greek directors right now along with Voulgaris.

This movie is not from the faint hearted. It's a black, unforgiving stare into the abyss. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks right back at you!

N.

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

I saw it last night with my wife, so it still plays in my mind.From the technical side it is completely professional.The sound quality amazing.The synchronism and the tremendous clarity of it creates an unusual impression of space where the viewer is absorbed until the last ,righteous moment. The story follows the laws of classic noir narration. So, though the protagonist is a payed killer, a certain ethic guides the story. The action is dense and not always foreseeable. All actors play naturally and very well.

An unusually good film for the Greek standards until now, not a film for the whole family because of some strong language , but certainly a film I highly recommend .