ULYSSES’ GAZE European Union Films From Cannes

Greece’s greatest filmmaker, Theo Angelopoulos, dramatizes a central crisis for any artistparticularly someone like Angelopoulos, who has often faced difficult subjects in dangerous times (Days of 36): how can a filmmaker keep his/her passion for cinema in a world exploding in chaos, injustice and bloodshed? Here, in a mesmerizing work of realism and artifice, encapsulating most of his career-long themes, Angelopoulos follows the journey of filmmaker A. (Keitel), as he tracks three long-missing reels of film-by the pioneering Manakias brothers-right to the heart of darkness: a damaged film archive in Sarajevo, at the height of the Serbian siege As always, Angelopoulos and his master cinematographer Yorgos Arvanitis take our breath away with long takes of astounding complexity and beauty. As always, their landscapes resonate with despair and longing, trapped in the gaze of hero, bystander and victim alike.-Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune. Ulysses’ Gaze has been selected as Michael Wilmington’s Critic’s Choice.