Eternity and a Day (Angelopoulos, 1998): ICA Cinema, 6.30pm
This screening is part of the Theo Angelopoulos season at the ICA. Details here.Chicago Reader review:
Winner of the 1998 Palme d’Or at Cannes, this rambling but beautiful
feature by Theo Angelopoulos may seem like an anthology of 60s and 70s
European art cinema: family nostalgia from Bergman and seaside frolics
from Fellini; long, mesmerizing choreographed takes and camera movements
from Jancso and Tarkovsky; haunting expressionist moods and visions
from Antonioni. Yet it’s so stirring and flavorsome–far richer
emotionally and poetically than Woody Allen’s derivations–that I was
moved and captivated throughout its 132 minutes. Bruno Ganz is
commanding as a Greek writer who’s recently learned that he’s terminally
ill; the part was conceived for the late Marcello Mastroianni, yet Ganz
seems perfect for it (though he’s dubbed by a Greek actor, as
Mastroianni undoubtedly would have been). Brooding over the loss of his
seaside retreat and family home in Thessaloniki, the hero meets an
eight-year-old illegal alien from Albania (Achilleas Skevis) and spends
the day crisscrossing the past and visiting his familiar haunts,
sometimes in the flesh and sometimes in his imagination, and
Angelopoulos is masterful in orchestrating these lyrical and complex
encounters.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is an extract.
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