The Dust of Time (Theo Angelopoulos, 2007)

[John Cope]

From a statement released by the production company is a synopsis of Angelopoulos' new film (spoiler warning, of course; though the pleasures of his work rarely come in the plot details):

"The Dust of Time"

Director: Theo Angelopoulos
Co-production: Greece, France, Italy, Canada, Germany
Genre: Historical Romance
Actors: Bruno Ganz, Harvey Keitel, Willem Defoe

Film Synopsis

Past and present intertwine as A., a film director in his fifties finds himself becoming a part of the film he is making, a chronicle of the tumultuous life and enduring love of his parents Spyros and Eleni. The historical events that marked their lives have their present day parallels. For Spyros and Eleni it was the Second World War which separated them after he immigrated to America in search of a better life as a musician and the Greek civil war that kept them apart when she ended up in the Soviet Union along with other political exiles. For A. it is the Vietnam War, which forces him to flee to Canada and the fall of the Berlin Wall, which signals the birth of a new era.

A. himself was conceived on the day of Stalin's death in the brief moment his parents had together when Spyros went to Tashkent - illegally with another man's name - in the hope of smuggling his beloved out of the Soviet Union. Caught by the police Spyros is arrested and Eleni sent to Siberia where she is reunited with Jacob, the German Jew she first met in Tashkent and a pivotal figure in both her life and Spyros. Throughout her ordeal in Siberia he never leaves her side even when it comes to choosing between joining the other Russian Jews heading for Israel in 1974 or following Eleni to New York where she goes in search of Spyros. For Jacob the choice was a bitter one since Spyros and Eleni are ultimately reunited. The new life that Spyros has made for himself and which Eleni discovers, cannot keep him apart from her and he follows her to Toronto where she has gone to be with her son. A. was only a little boy when his mother had managed to get him out of Siberia and sent him with Jacob's sister to his father in the United States.

Years later, in Berlin where he now lives A. greets his parents who arrive from the States. It is their first stop on their way to Greece after deciding to return home. There is an emotional reunion with Jacob, who had since returned to Germany and comes to greet them. The three of them wonder in the streets of Berlin caught up in the New Year's Eve festivities, and dance to the music. But their joy is marred by the news that A.'s troubled young daughter Eleni has disappeared. A. had been desperately and unsuccessfully searching for her. When the police finally locate her she is perched on the railing of a bridge at the intersection of two highways. It is the first time we see young Eleni and it is her grandmother, the other Eleni, who finally talks her into coming down off the railing as A., his estranged wife and the police stand helplessly by. But the toll on the old woman, who has already shown signs she is unwell, has been too great and she collapses. In A.'s apartment where they have taken her, Jacob comes to see her but finds her asleep. The final scene between the three is played out. With Eleni asleep in the next room Jacob and Spyros share one last drink like in the old days in New York. It is the final parting. An emotional embrace and Jacob leaves.

On the riverboat carrying him away in the rain Jacob goes up to the deck. Tormented by the memories of his recent voyage of memory to Poland to the camp where his parents died and letting go of the only woman he has ever loved. Slowly he lets his body slip into the empty space and disappear in the swirling waters of the river. Back in the apartment Eleni has risen and is setting the table, a place for each of her loved ones. She calls out to Jacob but he is not there. Finally she collapses with a look of peace on her face. By the time A. comes with a doctor it is too late. Spyros approaches his dead wife calling out her name and saying he has come to take her but it is with young Eleni that he walks hand in hand through the open balcony door, and out onto the avenue that stretches out before them, airy and fluid as a watercolor…

Presumably this is the follow up to The Weeping Meadow. I didn't expect it to be such a metatextual experience, but I trust Angelopoulos implicitly and assume he knows what he's doing.

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

Goodness! This sounds tasty! Another epic in store! =P~

By the sound of it it will no doubt include elements of some of his previous work (not a bad thing at all) and -looking at the historical sweep- a lot of travelling shots!

I just hope that Keitel equips himself better than he did in Ulysses' Gaze where he spent the entire film (3 hours or so if I remember correctly) wandering around as if severely constipated!

[Barmy]

Keitel has ruined many a movie--I shudder to think of him in Eyes Wide Shut.

[tavernier]

Keitel has ruined many a movie--I shudder to think of him in Eyes Wide Shut.

C'mon...he was a laff riot in Mother, Jugs & Speed, Last Temptation of Christ, The Piano and especially The Path to 9/11!

[Barmy]

I just hope he's nude a bunch in the new Angelopoulos.

[John Cope]

I guess I'll have to play apologist here as I have to say I really like Keitel in Ulysses' Gaze. By forcing him to contain or deny all his usual Method mannerisms, Angelopoulos accents Keitel's personal strength, his great gravity and presence in a way we have not seen before (and have not see again). Obviously, there is a consistent quality of temperament to Angelopoulos' performers that puts them all in a particular universe. This is going to result in some performers who seem better able to handle the requirements of ego displacement than others; also, it's easier to accept without distraction in movies with unfamiliar actors, like Weeping Meadow for instance. Having said all that, I think Keitel adapted himself marvelously to Angelopoulos' specifications and demands, largely by losing himself within the mythic frame and allowing himself to become just another symbolic presence (albeit a prominent one). But this will always be a matter of taste and perception.

One other matter. I hate to bring this up here, but I came across a comment on IMDB that really irked me and was one of those things I wanted to respond to immediately, in haste and with unwieldy vehemence I suppose. Thankfully, I kept myself in check to better form my thoughts. I know, I know, I shouldn't be so easily baited but that's why I wanted to post this comment here and see if anyone else has anything of substance to add to what I'm going to say. I just can't resist:

I'm Greek and a 26-year old professional in the UK film industry, currently working as a production assistant. And I have some things to say.

Angelopoulos is one of the worse and arrogant 'directors' ever born.
It seems that his Greek fans have gotten a bit 'oversophisticated'. If Angelopoulos didn't have Arvanitides and Sinanos as his DOPs, in short, if his films lacked that amazing photography, he would be a total ZERO.

His films lack the necessary structure and violate the most significant points of filmmaking. The premise is usually vague and if there is one, it's not well presented. You can never distinguish the plot points, there is not a purely divided time, he mostly uses medium or wide/long shots (that's really exhausting for a 20min short film, not to mention a 2 hour BAD film) and the editing oscar/bafta/bear/rabbit or whatever was INVENTED FOR A REASON. Such a waste of valueble film stock.

Furthermore, his scripts (which of course he writes and produces)are from unbarable to cheesy. Heavy melodramatic lines that remind us of Xanthopoulos and Martha Vourtsi, accompanied by exaggerated movements, like badly copycat scenes from thetrical plays. Yes, his films are SLOW a la Manuel de Oliveira style but this is not 'artistic cinema'. NO SUCH THING.

Linda Seger, Syd Field, Robert McKee and others are famous script consultants whose workshops cost £1000/ a weekend and they charge 8,000 USD to the big studios fro script analysis. IN ALL OF THEIR BOOKS, one name is there: ARISTOTLE.

Yes, Aristotle in his 'Poetics' spoke about the premise, the plot points and the drama structure. In the most famous books (like the ones I mention above), he's the first name in bibliography. And Angelopoulos, in a (toooooo long interview) stated that 'he took Aristotle's logic and applied in... upside down. Vice Versa. Totally *beep* it up, in two words!

By the way, that arrogant peacock has also declared that film schools are useless and talent cannot be taught. BULL AGAIN! He was thrown out of the film school (everybody can tell why) and if his family wasn't reach he wouldn't be able to buy even a sandbag! See, filmmaking is not about art or talent. IT'S PURE TECHNIQUE and a dosis of intelligence. Everybody in filmmaking can tell you that. He has never supported young people, has made arrogant statements about other people's 'garbage' (has he watched his own movies? I doubt it...) and he even dared to complain when he got the silver in Cannes a few years ago. Without the French he would be nothing.

It seems that certain Greeks consider his movies 'artistic'. Again, NO SUCH THING. I'm all done with that fake european 'quality movies'. French and Italian movies are on the pluparity good. So are Japanese. So are american independent (the best on my opinion). If you are looking for a decent Greek director, try Voulgaris (ola einai dromos) or go back to our golder era of the 50s. Greece is at the moment at its worse. The national film school, operating for the 3rd year in Thessaloniki, gives us a glimmer of hope.

So please, don't state facts about his 'visual beauty' (that's Arvanitide's job) and don't diss people that dislike him as ignorant. People that have a good understanding of the film industry can justify why he sucks and they're certainly not less educated than you.

To take this a piece at a time, there is no question that A's films benefit tremendously from the contributions of the professional craftsmen he works with. But impressive aesthetic tableaus without any kind of substantive foundation have little value in themselves. Also, where is mention of Eleni Karaindrou, whose work is every bit as important as that of the DOP.

The comments about lacking structure and violating significant points of filmmaking merely point to the writer's prejudices. What are these "significant points of filmmaking" and what makes them so significant? Can other techniques not be used to accomplish similar goals, or, god forbid, greater goals? For me his mention of the vague premises and lack of purely divided time as negatives pretty much says it all about where he stands and the conclusions he's already drawn.

Here's where I need some help. Anybody have anything to say in response to the Aristotle allusion? This is a tried and true IMDB device amongst posters, noticeable especially on threads about films that deal with political or religious subjects; pull out the classics as a means to support your point whilst demonstrating that you have only the most superficial, glancing acquaintance with them. I'm not going to pretend that I'm well read in Aristotelian theory; though I am, of course, familiar with it. Still, I suspect this writer isn't really acquainted with it either, despite his seeming authority (another fave IMDB tactic).

Finally, that whole paragraph about how filmmaking is not about art or talent but technique is, um, self-defeating? He mentions that Angelopoulos has said that talent cannot be taught (which it can't, it can only be encouraged) and finds this assessment to be "bull" and yet then goes on to say that talent is not important anyway and nothing but technique matters. This reflects poorly on the academies he is attempting to promote as valuable centers of study, to say the least. By associating pure technique with accomplishment this writer has eviscerated art of all that truly matters (ah, but of course not relevant if one considers art to be unimportant). This line of thinking can lead only to the elevation of hollow exercises in mechanics ("look at that crane shot!", "what a tight three act structure!") and the mostly banal line of American Independents that are championed here--films that are horrifyingly reductive in the way they are so clearly about something specific, whether it be a Social Issue or the psychology of personal relationships, all boiled down to their most basic and non-universal parts. Ultimately, this entire message is a validation and defense of non threatening, unimportant products of easy consumption-- fashionable gestures going through all the approved motions. These products challenge neither the audience or the one who produced them in the first place. If this person is so enamored of the precision of rigorous technique, one wonders what he must make of the Straubs....

[tavernier]

Don't waste everyone's time responding to some nitiwt from imdb...that's what that site is for!

[John Cope]

Yeah, I figured some might see this as a breach of forum etiquette, but it was worth a shot. Usually I try not to let these kinds of provocations get to me but this time I was just too irritated to keep it to myself. Surely you can sympathize with that, tavernier.

[tavernier]

Yeah, I figured some might see this as a breach of forum etiquette, but it was worth a shot. Usually I try not to let these kinds of provocations get to me but this time I was just too irritated to keep it to myself. Surely you can sympathize with that, tavernier.

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

I guess I'll have to play apologist here as I have to say I really like Keitel in Ulysses' Gaze. By forcing him to contain or deny all his usual Method mannerisms, Angelopoulos accents Keitel's personal strength, his great gravity and presence in a way we have not seen before (and have not see again).

Let me quote an abridged but still very amusing anecdote from the man himself:

Keitel is the Method personified... We set up the scene, lighted it and then Harvey said, "Theo, please, give me a minute, I need to listen to a certain Sinatra song." We were in a small town near Athens. No one could find the record he asked for. A car was despatched to bring it over. He put it on, went into his corner, and then I heard terrible sighs, he was crying like a child and calling his mother... Once the shot was completed, Erland Josephson came over from his own scene. Amused, I told him what had happened and then I noticed that Josephson, who was laughing with me, suddenly became uneasy. He had noticed Keitel approaching behind me and listening...

Taken from 'Theo Angelopoulos Interviews' ed. Dan Fainaru (a book very much worth buying!)

[porcupine2]

At first I thought Keitel seemed odd and awkward in Ulysses, say in the first scene with the film-showing and the angry crowds with umbrellas and Keitel saying something like "reality is stranger in the Balkans" - but then he began, as the metatextuality and time-shifts began to intensify, to appear truly as a cipher - so that when he gives a tear-full speech of artifice at the end, it was deeply moving.

[John Cope]

Just wanted to post this update. I actually have mixed feelings on the Irene Jacob news. I had finally come to terms with the idea of Valeria Golino. Oh who am I kidding, Jacob is luminous and is a welcome addition.

I'm just relieved that this is finally in production. No small accomplishment apparently. Here's hoping he can make Cannes '08.

[Barmy]

Couldn't find a thread for Theo. ](*,) O:) Coming from Intermedio in November. Includes his best film, O Megalexandros.

Noviembre - COLECCIÓN THEO ANGELOPOULOS 1970 - 1986 (2 cofres, 5 DVD cada uno + libretos) Reconstrucción (Anaparastasi, 1970) Días del '36 (Meres tou '36, 1972) El viaje de los comediantes (O thiassos, 1975) Los cazadores (I kynigi, 1977) Alejandro Magno (Megalexandros, 1980) Viaje a Citera (Taxidi sta Kythira, 1983) El apicultor (O melissokomos, 1986) + Material adicional

[RNL]

Couldn't find a thread for Theo. ](*,) O:) Coming from Intermedio in November. Includes his best film, O Megalexandros.

Noviembre - COLECCIÓN THEO ANGELOPOULOS 1970 - 1986 (2 cofres, 5 DVD cada uno + libretos) Reconstrucción (Anaparastasi, 1970) Días del '36 (Meres tou '36, 1972) El viaje de los comediantes (O thiassos, 1975) Los cazadores (I kynigi, 1977) Alejandro Magno (Megalexandros, 1980) Viaje a Citera (Taxidi sta Kythira, 1983) El apicultor (O melissokomos, 1986) + Material adicional

Has this been released? How much is it? What's the quality like? Where can I buy it?

Does "2 cofres, 5 DVD cada uno" mean it's a 10-disc set?

[RNL]

So is there any reaction to this film yet? It premiered last night.

[RNL]

Angelopoulos pulls the punches at Thassaloniki

The International Film Festival of Thessaloniki, which will celebrate its half-century next year, again reinforced its reputation for being a festival where directors are the stars. For example, when one walks up the stairways of the large Olympia cinema, the walls are plastered with scores of photographs of film directors – not an actor to be seen.

This year tributes were paid to the Dardenne brothers, Oliver Stone and Terence Davies, who all gave masterclasses to packed, enthusiastic young audiences, and there was a nine-film homage to Ousmane Sembene, who died last year. Takeshi Kitano was also presented with an Honorary Golden Alexander, for Lifetime Achievement.

Kitano, whose latest film, Achilles and the Tortoise, has Greek connections (the title comes from Zeno's paradox), said that it was a real pleasure to be so honoured especially by Greece, the home of great playwrights and philosophers, and "the cradle of western civilisation". Although these remarks are always flattering to Greeks, they also get on their nerves. It implies that Greece did its bit for civilisation centuries ago and has rested on its laurels ever since.

Despite the cradle being a bit battered these days, having gone through wars and revolutions and social and political upheavals, they have still produced many great artists since the days of ancient Greece, including two internationally renowned film directors – Michael Cacoyannis and Theo Angelopoulos, both of whom were represented at the festival.

My Life and Times: Michael Cacoyannis, a documentary by Lydia Carras, reminded us how the 86-year-old was once the embodiment of Greek cinema, reaching his peak of popularity with Zorba the Greek (1964). Yet with his Euripides trilogy, featuring the magnificent Irene Papas, Cacoyannis proved that the classic plays on film could still grip modern audiences.

The big news at Thessaloniki was the world premiere of the 73-year-old Angelopoulos's new film, The Dust of Time. The film, a Greek-German-Italian-Russian co-production, mainly in English, and featuring such stalwarts of European art cinema as Bruno Ganz, Michel Piccoli and Irene Jacob, with American Willem Dafoe in one of the main parts, seemed to have all the makings of a Europudding. At least a Europudding made by a master chef. Though not all these fears were allayed, it is difficult not to be impressed by Angelopoulos's complex work.

The Dust of Time, the second in a projected trilogy (the first was The Weeping Meadow, 2004), is as ambitious as most of Angelopoulos's films, which are metaphysical contemplations on the way people are caught up in the sweep of (particularly modern Greek) history. The new film is less stylistically breathtaking than its predecessor yet not as restrictive, nor is the director as reliant on his masterful use of slow pans and long takes. Instead, he uses some spectacular tracking shots in order to recount the traumas of the second part of the 20th century, ending with a glimmer of hope for the 21st. In fact, the film is a true fin-de-siécle drama, a cry of pain derived from the wounds the previous century inflicted. It is film as metaphor. The characters are caught in a dream of which they (and the audience) are trying to make some sense.

From time to time, the stylised dialogue, spoken by the international cast, sounds stilted to the ear of a native English speaker. In addition, the film, at 125 minutes, is brief by Angelopoulos's standards, which may account for some of the awkward expositions, taking the place of unfilmed episodes. Consequently, the film sometimes veers from the profound to the portentous, from the sublimely ridiculous to the ridiculously sublime. However, these weaknesses fade beside the strength of the great set pieces such as the scene when Stalin's death is announced in a town in the Soviet Union, prisoners walking up an endless stairway in Siberia, and the passion of the narrative.

According to the director at the press conference, "The Dust of Time is a film that treats the past as if it were in the present. It is history written in capital letters and history written in small print. We used to think of ourselves as the subjects of history. Nowadays I can't say if we are its subjects or objects."

A few days before The Dust of Time was shown, the streets of Thessaloniki were filled with students, watched over by teams of riot police, commemorating November 17, 1973, the day that the military junta sent in the army to crush a student strike and sit-in which resulted in many deaths. The march was a vivid demonstration of the past in the present illustrated in Angelopoulos's film.

[Barmy]

Good to see Theo pwned Thessaloniki. I understand why the Greeks are so sensy--besides Angelopoulos and Cacoyannis, what have they done cinematically?

[Der Müde Tod]

Good to see Theo pwned Thessaloniki. I understand why the Greeks are so sensy--besides Angelopoulos and Cacoyannis, what have they done cinematically?

Aischylos, Sophokles, Euripides, among others. The films are apparently lost, though.

[denti alligator]

I could've sworn there used to be an "Angelopoulos on DVD" thread, but I can't find it. Maybe it was on the old forum, but that was over 4 years ago, and I can't be that forgetful.

Anyway, what ever happened to the next wave of releases from the Greek Star label? Anyone able to get news from them? Did they just give up? I've really enjoyed their first set of releases. Quality transfers.

[menthymenthy]

I sure hope his new film arrives at MIFF in July.

[Barmy]

Here's a review that doesn't seem to have been posted here.