Theo Angelopoulos

I saw The Travelling Players yesterday at MOMI, and while his aesthetic is not custom-built for my wavelength, I did like it a lot more than U's Gaze 20 years ago. I don't understand people who find it "impenetrable"; I'm not an expert in either 20th-century Greek history or the Oresteia, but the little I know was enough to get by. (Obviously a lot of nuances will bypass most non-Greek audiences.)

Mubi:

https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/persistence-of-vision-the-cinema-of-theodoros-angelopoulos

The Travelling Players defeated me when I tried to watch it once at home - I just couldn't really adjust to the way that the film switched between different eras, sometimes even in the same shot. Hope to return to it one day.

I can imagine it being much more difficult on a non-theater screen...

The Travelling Players, purely for its atmosphere and dignity may be one of the greatest films ever. It also looks and feels beautiful and strong. But the pace is murder. And you have to allows for shots of facades and interiors of buildings - which stand for historical time - to be substituted for the standard human drama of most film.

The Hunters, the next film in the trilogy, is, in comparison, a grim black comedy, where a corpse stands for Greek society, or at least its ideals. Some very funny scenes in this, but the next moment you're reminded of the insane historical import of them - like the new prime minister being selected by draping a robe over his naked torso, in a parody of investiture, by some conspirators.

These films are a great crash course in 20c Greek history too, from a defiantly biased leftwing perspective.