The Virgin Mary is the deus ex machina in the four storylines of this ambitious Greek art film. August 15 is the day of the Dormition of the Virgin in the Orthodox calendar, but for Athenians it is little more than an excuse to leave the city for the countryside. Four social classes are represented -the nouveau riche, the middle class, the working class and the sizeable "scrounging class" of Athens- and the director does an excellent job of delving into the characters. The young hitchhiker, the car mechanic, the lady on the highway who gets run over and the young girl at the end are the manifestations of the Virgin who change the course of the four plot lines. Some inexplicable endings, however, left me unfulfilled and disappointed. Some might say that's what the director intended, but I say hogwash. This great movie seems incomplete.
9 Reviews
Miraculous Motherhood
vardaxis18 November 2003
This film looks from several different viewpoints at the relationship of mother to child, taking as a springboard the holiday of the Dormition of the Virgin on the 15th of August, a major Greek Orthodox religious holiday, but simply an excuse for a break from work and the heat of late summer for the majority of Athenians. By extension, other relationships are explored and the 'holidays' that each group of people embark on act as the catalyst for resolution of different sets of problems they are facing. The film is visually satisfying, ranging from comic to tragic and concludes strongly enough, if one is attuned with the characters and their different sets of values and expectations.
Funny, Thrilling, Emotional...
nadinos30 January 2003
Modern Greek Cinema? is there such a thing? over the past few years there seems to be a sudden rise in the number of movies produced in Greece. Such is the popularity lately, that Greece has even got a film festival in Salonika which invites Greek as well as international director's work. One of winners of this festival in 2002 was "Dekapentavgoustos".
Dekapentavgoustos is a Greek National holiday, which is celebrated every 15th of August, to mark Virgin Mary's day. The word "Dekapente" means 15 and "avgoustos" means August. Combine the two and you have 15th of August.
The movie shows three different stories, occurring in parallel on this day of celebration. Some-one may recall the Latin American movie 'Amores Perros' which has the same format... It is about three different families which leave Athens, the capital, to go on holiday -but they all end up in different situations.
The movie starts off with a 'feel-good' factor as the protagonists embark on their holidays and ends up with emotional tears as the story takes up a very unexpectedly different path. If you like sunny-Mediterranean cinefile movies you will love this film. It has it all- melodrama, comedy, action, love... a "first" for the Greek movie business -a must-see!
Dekapentavgoustos is a Greek National holiday, which is celebrated every 15th of August, to mark Virgin Mary's day. The word "Dekapente" means 15 and "avgoustos" means August. Combine the two and you have 15th of August.
The movie shows three different stories, occurring in parallel on this day of celebration. Some-one may recall the Latin American movie 'Amores Perros' which has the same format... It is about three different families which leave Athens, the capital, to go on holiday -but they all end up in different situations.
The movie starts off with a 'feel-good' factor as the protagonists embark on their holidays and ends up with emotional tears as the story takes up a very unexpectedly different path. If you like sunny-Mediterranean cinefile movies you will love this film. It has it all- melodrama, comedy, action, love... a "first" for the Greek movie business -a must-see!
Slices of life in an August day
Vincentiu11 February 2007
A splendid film about ordinary existence. Crisis, hopes, searches and dreams, in a subtle mixture with a special flavor of Christianism. Delicate exploration of a small world and art to discover each detail of a common struggle. Symbols, signs and metaphors, breaths of crisis, shadows of ages and the trip to essential miracle. Images from Bergman and great expectation.
A very Greek movie with universal message. For everybody it is important a "Dekapendavgoustos", day of escape and confrontation with interior demons. Day of introspection of entire life and building of a reasonable answer. The day of past's lost. Day of fight with the Angel and talk with God on Sinai mount.
Tho characters defines the reality of film: The Mother of God and the young thief- strange epheb and ambiguous messenger of basic values. The projection of this two presences is the Morfoula's search of her daughter and the intensity of her pray.
Few people and an only purpose. Slices of life in an August day.
A very Greek movie with universal message. For everybody it is important a "Dekapendavgoustos", day of escape and confrontation with interior demons. Day of introspection of entire life and building of a reasonable answer. The day of past's lost. Day of fight with the Angel and talk with God on Sinai mount.
Tho characters defines the reality of film: The Mother of God and the young thief- strange epheb and ambiguous messenger of basic values. The projection of this two presences is the Morfoula's search of her daughter and the intensity of her pray.
Few people and an only purpose. Slices of life in an August day.
It's all about Greek cinema being relevant again
spyretto18 January 2008
Not ever since the late 1950's has Greek cinema managed to reach international audiences. And it's all for a reason as Greek cinema seems to finally becoming relevant again.. Giannaris has definitely played a part in that mini revival of sorts as he's definitely one of the most interesting of modern Greek filmmakers with a distinct vision and an edge. Dekapentavgoustos follows 4 parallel stories all taking place in the public holiday of August 15 and though I dislike comparisons, the film was constantly reminding me of something like Crash despite the fact that the film predates Crash.. It's all very well done though, the cinematography is lush, the performances are superb but I somehow feel that Giannaris has a bigger and more engaging story to tell, so I'm looking forward to the next work of this talented director. Check out From The Edge of the City, as well.
Isn't love what we all need ?
grybop2 February 2002
Warning: Spoilers
*MINOR SPOILERS*
Dekapendavgoustos (August 15th) is probably the holiday awaited by most in Greece; cities are vacated while people resort to the countryside, escaping from the routine for a while. This movie (which I saw last night) features multiple stories about the experiences of several people the day before, on, and the day after August 15th. They are all inhabitants in the same apartment building and while they 're away on vacation, a burglar breaks in their apartments. The stories are shown in parallel and are knit together very cleverly. The camerawork is superb (there are only a few occasions where the camera is actually still) and is accompanied by tight editing, making the movie quick-paced, so that the viewer never feels bored.
The acting varies from hardly believable (in only one scene: the confession of the burglar to a girl - however, the actor's performance was excellent when he was mute :o) ) to excellent (Chilakis, Iatropoulos, Tzimou, and basically the rest of the cast) and even to stunning (Moutoussi, Kastani). Amalia Moutoussi was a very pleasant surprise (it actually took me more than half an hour to recognize her), not only on the grounds of her appearance, bur mainly because of her acting. What a performance! Kastani's performance also gave me goose-bumps in a couple of very well directed scenes. Generally there was good character development notwithstanding the number of characters involved.
I tried to find a deeper meaning to this film, because I think the director uses symbolism to express some ideas (it is not a coincidence that one of the most significant holidays in orthodox christianity was chosen as a time frame, nor is the frequent verbal use of Mary's name by the characters, nor even the ever-so-used scene of a girl washing some guy's feet), but the film on the whole hasn't grown on me yet, so I won't attempt to interpret the director's intentions. I have to say though that I loved the rainfall; it was put at the end of the movie, as if it was finally purging the characters' souls, washing away their pain, guilt, sorrow, or just giving them strength to move on.
Dekapendavgoustos is not flawless but very close to a masterpiece. One of the best movies I've ever seen.
almost 9
Dekapendavgoustos (August 15th) is probably the holiday awaited by most in Greece; cities are vacated while people resort to the countryside, escaping from the routine for a while. This movie (which I saw last night) features multiple stories about the experiences of several people the day before, on, and the day after August 15th. They are all inhabitants in the same apartment building and while they 're away on vacation, a burglar breaks in their apartments. The stories are shown in parallel and are knit together very cleverly. The camerawork is superb (there are only a few occasions where the camera is actually still) and is accompanied by tight editing, making the movie quick-paced, so that the viewer never feels bored.
The acting varies from hardly believable (in only one scene: the confession of the burglar to a girl - however, the actor's performance was excellent when he was mute :o) ) to excellent (Chilakis, Iatropoulos, Tzimou, and basically the rest of the cast) and even to stunning (Moutoussi, Kastani). Amalia Moutoussi was a very pleasant surprise (it actually took me more than half an hour to recognize her), not only on the grounds of her appearance, bur mainly because of her acting. What a performance! Kastani's performance also gave me goose-bumps in a couple of very well directed scenes. Generally there was good character development notwithstanding the number of characters involved.
I tried to find a deeper meaning to this film, because I think the director uses symbolism to express some ideas (it is not a coincidence that one of the most significant holidays in orthodox christianity was chosen as a time frame, nor is the frequent verbal use of Mary's name by the characters, nor even the ever-so-used scene of a girl washing some guy's feet), but the film on the whole hasn't grown on me yet, so I won't attempt to interpret the director's intentions. I have to say though that I loved the rainfall; it was put at the end of the movie, as if it was finally purging the characters' souls, washing away their pain, guilt, sorrow, or just giving them strength to move on.
Dekapendavgoustos is not flawless but very close to a masterpiece. One of the best movies I've ever seen.
almost 9
Must see @ 15/8
Oneirosophos13 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Dekapentavgoustos is a unique film that starts very nice, grows very strong and has a quite badly written ending.
Two married couples, a rich and a poorer, along with a family of four live in a block of flats in the center of Athens. And as the custom requires in Greece, everyone goes on vacation on 15/8, due to the Assumption of Mary. The rich goes to a villa at Pelion, the poorer go to a small bay at Peloponnesus and the disfunctional family go to Veria, to Panagia Sumela, for Holy Mother to make a miracle and heal their dying daughter.
The main part is the problems they encounter at their roadtrips, while a burglar breaks into their block of flats. And as long as it lasts, it is very good! But I just cannot forgive this deus-ex-based stupid ending, especially the ending of the burglar...
ps.This is another Greek movie with many problems in the sound, where either everything is very loud or almost mute.
Two married couples, a rich and a poorer, along with a family of four live in a block of flats in the center of Athens. And as the custom requires in Greece, everyone goes on vacation on 15/8, due to the Assumption of Mary. The rich goes to a villa at Pelion, the poorer go to a small bay at Peloponnesus and the disfunctional family go to Veria, to Panagia Sumela, for Holy Mother to make a miracle and heal their dying daughter.
The main part is the problems they encounter at their roadtrips, while a burglar breaks into their block of flats. And as long as it lasts, it is very good! But I just cannot forgive this deus-ex-based stupid ending, especially the ending of the burglar...
ps.This is another Greek movie with many problems in the sound, where either everything is very loud or almost mute.
Perfect
heinerin20 February 2002
for those who really think greece is still marked only through ancient buildings and philosophy, will have to see this movie. dekapentavgoustos is representing living human beings with all of their emotions that are living in the recent greek society. is something unexpected for probably all those who perceived greece as something in the past. this movie will be a kind of update for some people, which is good.
the movie made me really content, seeing real personalities played by good actors, you can identify with immidiately!! a well thought play about human needs and desires.
all the best to this movie!!!!!!!! congratulations
the movie made me really content, seeing real personalities played by good actors, you can identify with immidiately!! a well thought play about human needs and desires.
all the best to this movie!!!!!!!! congratulations
Giannaris' weakest effort...
ninja_slut15 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This is a pretty complicated film so I don't know where to start from.
It is the story of 3 different families living in the same building and leaving Athens to go on vacation. On the same day. The title day. Virgin Mary's celebration. Things get a bit more complicated when a thief enters the building. The main idea behind the movie isn't bad at all. Problem is that Dekapentavgoustos often gets too dramatic, specially with the subplot of the sick little girl. Not to mention her parents and her stupid fat brother- all of them annoying characters. Giannaris is supposed to be depicting reality in his films but I believe he kind of lost it here. Why? Let's see: The family goes on vacation and the little sick girl gets lost. First couple: They run over an old lady- afterwards the girl (Theodora Tzimou) nearly gets drowned. Second couple: they take a hitcher on the car with them (Papadopoulos, leading actor in Omiros and From The Edge Of The City). He screws the girl, then steals the guy's money and leaves. Sure, these things do happen but its hard for anybody to believe all of them can happen to these related persons at the exact same time.... Actually the film managed to keep me interested for the first 65 minutes or so. After that, I stopped caring due to the melodramatic situations and the scene where the thief finds some girl in the street and gets involved with her. The ending sucked as well, sorry.
Oh I forgot to mention the "controversial" scene of the movie where the thief puts on a wedding dress and make-up. That was rubbish and was totally unnecessary, sorry. Homosexual obsessions of a homosexual filmmaker....
Theodora Tzimou has done better in some of her other works- her performance in the scene where she talks to her secret boyfriend on the phone is pretty bad. The fat TV-oriented actress who plays the sick girl's mother was horrible as well. Unlike Gianis Oikonomidis, Giannaris was never a director who went for perfection when it came to acting.
Visually, this is certainly the director's finest movie, you can tell he has a bigger budget this time and the cinematography is flawless. However, it is obvious that he is trying to make the movie look more mainstream this time as it lacks the raw, hand-held camera style of APO TIN AKRI TIS POLIS and OMIROS.
The music score had lots in common with the one in APO TIN AKRI... but it was less interesting.
Overall, I believe this movie is the director's weakest. It takes more than great visual style to make a great movie.
It is the story of 3 different families living in the same building and leaving Athens to go on vacation. On the same day. The title day. Virgin Mary's celebration. Things get a bit more complicated when a thief enters the building. The main idea behind the movie isn't bad at all. Problem is that Dekapentavgoustos often gets too dramatic, specially with the subplot of the sick little girl. Not to mention her parents and her stupid fat brother- all of them annoying characters. Giannaris is supposed to be depicting reality in his films but I believe he kind of lost it here. Why? Let's see: The family goes on vacation and the little sick girl gets lost. First couple: They run over an old lady- afterwards the girl (Theodora Tzimou) nearly gets drowned. Second couple: they take a hitcher on the car with them (Papadopoulos, leading actor in Omiros and From The Edge Of The City). He screws the girl, then steals the guy's money and leaves. Sure, these things do happen but its hard for anybody to believe all of them can happen to these related persons at the exact same time.... Actually the film managed to keep me interested for the first 65 minutes or so. After that, I stopped caring due to the melodramatic situations and the scene where the thief finds some girl in the street and gets involved with her. The ending sucked as well, sorry.
Oh I forgot to mention the "controversial" scene of the movie where the thief puts on a wedding dress and make-up. That was rubbish and was totally unnecessary, sorry. Homosexual obsessions of a homosexual filmmaker....
Theodora Tzimou has done better in some of her other works- her performance in the scene where she talks to her secret boyfriend on the phone is pretty bad. The fat TV-oriented actress who plays the sick girl's mother was horrible as well. Unlike Gianis Oikonomidis, Giannaris was never a director who went for perfection when it came to acting.
Visually, this is certainly the director's finest movie, you can tell he has a bigger budget this time and the cinematography is flawless. However, it is obvious that he is trying to make the movie look more mainstream this time as it lacks the raw, hand-held camera style of APO TIN AKRI TIS POLIS and OMIROS.
The music score had lots in common with the one in APO TIN AKRI... but it was less interesting.
Overall, I believe this movie is the director's weakest. It takes more than great visual style to make a great movie.
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