Ulysses Gaze

Starring: Erland Josephson, Harvey Keitel Director: Theo Angelopoulos Original UK Premiere: 1996 Dvd Release: 11th May, 1999 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Black & White, Colour, Letterboxed, NTSC, Region 0 Encoding Subtitled In: English

Article Index: [Background Info] [DVD Review] [Biographies] [Articles/Resources] [Link To This Article] Looking To Buy? Buy This DVD Here

Ulysses Gaze is a film directed by Theo Angelopoulos. // An exiled Greek filmmaker is returning home & sets out on an epic journey across the battered Balkans in search of three lost reels of film by the Manakis brothers, the pioneering photographers who introduced movies into the Balkans at the beginning of the century. The search for the reels of film works as a metaphor for a search for the common history of the Balkan countries. Grand Jury Prize 1995 - Cannes Film Festival. Critics Award 1995 - European Film Academy. Vlemma tou Odyssea, To at the Internet Movie Database. Ulysses Gaze TIME Magazine All-Time 100 best films.

Back in 1905, two brothers, Yannakis & Miltos Manakis, lived in what is now Albania. Then it was one of the European parts of the Ottoman Empire, which also included Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, & whatever has now replaced Yugoslavia. These brothers were the first makers of motion pictures in that area.

A contemporary filmmaker, called simply A, returns to his native Greece for a screening of one of his films that is controversial there. He talks to someone who in his youth had been an assistant to Yannakis Manakis, who was then himself an old man exiled in Greece. This person tells A that, just before his death, Yannakis had rambled on about how he wanted to recover three reels of film that he & his brother had left undeveloped long ago. A himself becomes obsessed with finding these reels, & Ulysses Gaze is the episodic story of As journey through the civil-war torn Balkans in search of the film. Then voyage begins...

Despite a haunting soundtrack, stunning scenery & the indomitable Keitel, Ulysses Gaze is not for everyone. It has a remoteness, with the viewer always the observer, not the participant."

Harvey Keitel. The son of a Polish mother & Romanian father, he spent most of his youth on the streets of New York City. At the age of 16, Keitel decided to join the United States Marine Corps, a decision which took him to Lebanon. After his return to the United States, he floundered for a while in mediocre jobs before beginning his acting career. Keitel studied under both Stella Adler & Lee Strasberg, eventually landing roles in some off-Broadway productions. During this time, Keitel met another struggling filmaker named Martin Scorsese & gained a part in Scorseses student production. Since then both Scorsese & Keitel have worked together on numerous projects. Throughout the 1980s, Keitel continued to find plenty of work, but it was usually in the stereotypical role of a thug. In 1993, however, Keitel worked to change his image after choosing to co-star in Jane Campion s The Piano & later, as the lead, in Abel Ferraras graphic masterpiece, Bad Lieutenant. Posters Of Harvey Keitel

Editors Choice: Shadows In The Sun, Nailed, Taking Sides, Holy Smoke, Lulu On The Bridge, The Piano, Bad Lieutenant, Finding Graceland, View DVDology

Theodoros Angelopoulos is a noted Greek film director. He studied law in Athens but after military service he went to Paris to attend the Sorbonne. He soon dropped out to study film at the IDHEC before returning to Greece. Back home he worked as a journalist & film critic until the coup. He made his first short film in 1968 & went on in the 1970s to make long films concerned with modern Greece - Meres Tou 36, O Thiassos & I Kynighoi. He quickly established a characteristic style, marked by slow, episodic & ambiguous structure & long, sequence shot takes. He moved into less political works after the end of the dictatorship, gaining Italian funding. His distinct visual style is characterised by very slow, long, meticulous takes. The Travelling Players for example, consists of around 80 shots in about four hours of film. His collaborators include the cinematographer Giorgos Arvanitis & the composer Eleni Karaindrou. Karaindrous soundtracks are available from ECM records.

Editors Choice: Ulysses Gaze, Lumiere And Company, View DVDology

©2004-2008 DVDArk.co.uk