Reviews

This is the true strory of two people who come from a totally different background but even show, they get to know it's other, like each other and in the end become longlife friends. The white guy, played brilliantly by the actor Viggo Mortensen, is a really macho, anti-negro, american italian catholic who earns his familly's living doing petit crime jobs for the italian mobsters. The black guy is a bisexual, highly educated pianist who performs workdwide and decides to take on the hard task of performing at the racist South States of USA. He needs a bodyguard for that job and during the journey they discover each others personality and sterotypes, they change the way that they were used to see the world and finally become inseperable. We' ve seen this kind of moovies many times before and the message is always the same. Don't judge other people by the colour of their skin or by their education or by whatever. Despite the banallity of the message, it seems that our world has not learnt its lesson yet and a repetition is necessary. Besides, the performances of both Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, are excellent. So it's a 7/10 for me and maybe an oscar for best supporting actor for Ali whose transfiguration from film to film is unbelievable.

Gabrielle, played by Marion Cotillard, wants to fall in love. She wants to love and be loved so strongly, that she does goofy stuff and her parents are worried. Her mother is smart enough to marry her with an inferior (economically) but decent and hard-working man. Gabrielle objects the wedding but there is nothing she can do. So the point is: Is there something wrong with Gabrielle's mind? Does she leave in the actual world or is she leaving in a world of her own where fantastic lovers approach her and make love to her? She is lucky her mother was right about the man she choose to marry her. He stands by her and helps her recover from the fantasies that torment her. Marion Cotillard is a wonderful actress and she manages to portray brilliantly the persona of a semi-mad woman. OK, it's a bit slow and depressing but the twist at the end, makes it a worth watching film. So that's a 6 plus 1 extra point for Marion...

Greece has hundreds of islands full of life during the summer but gloomy and melancholic during the winter. For us Greeks who work at the public sector, these islands are a necessary first step in order to accumulate points and someday maybe we will be able to work closer to our hometown where our interests lie. The middle aged doctor is a bit old to start his career from Antiparos but for various reasons that's what he does. He is strange guy. A bit of a loner. He doesn't make friends easily, especially with women. So here he is. A rainy day he disembarks on this small, windy, scarcely populated island and he tries to get used to his new life style. It suits him fine. But then, Summer arrives and with it, thousands of tourists. Young boys and girls, open minded, ready to have fun, willing to make the best of their holiday. The young doctor falls in love with a young woman but he seems to be a little more serious than he should have. He gets pushy, anxious,then careless and finally paranoid.