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To Vlemma Tou Odyssea / Ulysses' Gaze (1995) Direction: Theo Angelopoulos Cast: Harvey Keitel, Erland Josephson, Maia Morgenstern, Thanasis Vengos, Giorgos Mihalakopoulos Screenplay: Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra, Petros Markaris, Giorgio Silvagni Harvey Keitel, Ulysses' Gaze Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos' 1995 effort To Vlemma tou Odyssea / Ulysses' Gaze is the first of that director's four films that I have seen that is not unequivocally a great work of art. Although there are arguments that can be made in favor of that claim, the film's 173-minute running time is much too long, especially considering that Ulysses' Gaze is the least poetic of the aforementioned four films. (For the record, the others are Landscape in the Mist, Eternity and a Day, and Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow.) Of course, I'm not saying that Ulysses' Gaze is a bad film or that it lacks Angelopoulos' trademark visual poesy. On the other hand, the film lacks several important...

The 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony of the Hellenic Film Academy was held in Athens yesterday, and the big winner was the Cypriot director Yannis Economides with his third feature film, "Macherovgaltis" (Knifer). Knifer competed against the Venice Film Festival winners and favorites, Attenberg and Hora Proelefsis (Homeland) and still managed to win seven awards out of the nine that has been nominated including Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Economides’ black and white drama is about Nikos, an ordinary guy, who after his father’s sudden death decides to go live and work with his uncle in the suburbs of Athens. Nikos also accepts his uncle’s offer which consists of protecting two purebred dogs from the hostile neighbors. Knifer also won the awards for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound and Best Film Editing. Syllas Tzoumerkas’ Hora Proelefsis (Homeland) was originally the Academy’s favorite film with 12 nominations,...

Greek comedy great Thanasis Veggos has died at the age of 83.

The popular actor passed away at a hospital in Athens on Tuesday after suffering a series of strokes.

Veggos shot to fame in the 1960s with roles in films like Secret Agent 000 and Papatrehas. He worked extensively with director Giorgos Lazaridis and starred alongside Harvey Keitel in 1995's Ulysses Gaze.

He was considered to be one of Greece's best-known stars and, in 2008, Veggos was appointed Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of Greece, Karolos Papoulias.

Paying tribute to Veggos, Papoulias says, "(He was) a wonderful, charismatic person with a rare sense of kindness."...