This is not at all a film for admirers of Hollywood

Olo to varos tou kosmou (2004) directed by Thanos Anastopoulos

For his first film "Thanos Anastopoulos" has chosen a very difficult theme. In his film "All the weight of the world", he chose to portray the meaning of life. For viewers not used to films where there is no proper beginning, middle and end, this film would not make much sense. This film would not make any sense at all even when these viewers try to see it for the second time. Of course, it is a different story that such people would not see it twice because there are high chances that they might dislike this film during its first viewing. So if a film is disliked by viewers at the time of its first screening, one can deduce that it would be detrimental because not only the viewers would continue to ignore the same film but they would also not recommend such a soporific film to other viewers. According to what I have understood, "Olo to varos tou kosmou", is a film without a regular plot or a storyline. I had no trouble in capturing the fact that it is an occult tale of 11 confused denizens of a small Greek city. Much of the film's sadness comes from its characters. In this film, there is a sad looking old philosophy professor who burns all his books stating that his entire life has been a waste. According to him the real wisdom can be found in life but never in books. There is a loving couple too unsure of their love for each other. Now something for universal admirers of technical issues related to a film. "All the weight of the world" was shot on digital DV and later blown into a 35 mm print. This has not hampered the visual beauty in any manner. What about the question mark style adopted by Anastopoulos ? This should not come as a surprise to anyone as Anastopoulos learnt the tricks of the trade from the "one many army" of World Cinema : Monsieur Theodoros Angelopoulos. He chose young Thanos as his assistant on "The Beekeeper" (1986). Lastly, "All the weight of the world" was revealed to the world after it premiered at the prestigious Rotterdam International Film Festival 2004.

A film full of dirty words.

Spirtokouto (2003) directed by Yiannis Economidis.

The first impression which is going to be created in viewers' minds is that why is this film named "Matchbox" ? Yeah, it is true that all the film's actors are angry. Does that mean that the film should be titled "Matchbox" ? If the same logic is applied than its name should have been "red tomato ketchup". There is no clue to this in the film. Greek cinema is known because of masters like Theo Angelopoulos, Pantelis Voulgaris etc. For those who wish to explore more of Greek cinema, Yannis Economidis' film "Matchbox" would come as a great shock.It is with firm conviction that I state that I am yet to come across any world cinema film in which the actors do nothing but hurl the best of filthy abuses on each other. This does not constitute a drawback for the film as it has its own virtue. One cannot term this film "low budget" but as it was entirely shot in the two rooms of a house, it can be assumed that the producer has not spent mega bucks for it. This is an ordinary Greek film which viewers would not like to remember for the rest of their lives.