Tetarti 04:45

The films of Johnny To are the template for this noble effort which despite the intentions of the director, misses the mark. Visually its OK, if not great, as the trailer suggests. The night scenes have some atmosphere even if there is a long way to go until they reach Wong Kar Wai levels. The problem is that Athens doesn't look good on film and this shows during the daytime scenes. My favorite depictions of Athens on film are still Spielberg's Munich and 70's giallo Death Steps In The Dark. While this film has some impressive visuals, it fails to achieve the classy look the director was striving for. It may had to do with budget reasons. But the biggest problem of the film is the script. There is not much of a story to justify the two hours running time and the performances are quite weak. It may have helped if the film was thirty or forty minutes shorter.The fact is, there are no surprises here. The viewer knows from the start how this is going to end. The build up is quite problematic and the way the secondary characters and plot elements are handled is pointless. The violence scenes are not handled very well either mostly due to the fact that they are buried under several stylistic elements which diminish the impact of the scene. Still if you are interested in modern Greek cinema, give this a shot. If nothing else the director has proved that one day he may be able to deliver a really interesting film.