User Reviews

The movie tells the tale of Stratos, a weathered hit-man, who more-or- less wants to leave the past behind him. But as we know from other gangster-stories, once you get in it's hard to get out.

This is a very slow-paced crime drama. Well directed, with an impressive lead actor and good, believable cast. There are many well-composed scenes that create a desolate world, and one has to wonder how close to the real Greece that is.

The only (but important) element that bothered me was the length, which is mostly due to an exaggerated amount of minimalistic long scenes. The story was compelling enough, I wish it was just edited-down a bit. But I respect the director and his vision.

After the screening, here at the Ghent Film Festival, I've overheard someone say "this is like the Greek Drive, but at least Drive had style". I disagree with that remark and would not compare the two films at all.

It is generally a well-made film with an interesting plot, very good directing, and excellent acting by every one of its actors, even those playing minor characters. The strikingly empty, unpopulated spaces that predominate throughout the film seem to reflect well the inner emptiness and lack of feelings of the characters, and they are in contrast with the colourful, noisy scene towards the end, which I perceived as reflecting the fact that the last act of the protagonist was the only one driven by his emotions. On the negative side, I found that some repetitions were unnecessary and made me a little bored halfway through the film. In the last 45 minutes, however, the narration flows swiftly again and, by the end, my full interest was back again. Overall, the story is that of violence and crime that does not make you leaving the theatre with a grin on your face, but the more you think of it afterwards the more you like it. Certainly worth seeing.

Yannis Economidis, the director, started his career by doing something really extraordinary. Something new and daring. His movies do not follow the conventional rules of a "product" that has to sell. His movies have to say something and that's it.Of course sometimes this turns out bad, so Yannis had to do a few things for the first time. Like choosing actors with a very different approach. The team of actors were some well known and recognizable faces, merged with actors that are appropriate in a Yannis Economidis film. If I would be a director, I would have the same aesthetics as Yannis has. I love the photography of the movie. Starting with abandoned places, rust, dirt, same aesthetic as the incredible "dirty street light" scene for a few seconds on Soul Kicking. The sound is nicely layered to the whole film. Keeps realism flowing through the whole film. The music. Well I have to state that there is no fanfare without reason. It is simple and minimalistic yet it is solid and well fit to the whole feeling of the movie. I take the movie as a noir gangster film, that focus on ethics. Stratos is a really nice anti-hero. Well made, having a background, a present situation and finally a redeeming thing to do. The movie plays with the spectator's feelings. It is empty and silent, like a desert of Strato's heart. Yet in the end, it seems that feelings come back to life inside Strato. He is capable to love purely and that makes him do something out of his feelings. Strato's feelings got him into trouble in the past. Now for the second time his feelings will put an end on all of this, but the feelings are different and that is what redeems him.

A full story, well made, with Yanni's signature placed well inside it. Yannis had to deal with the fact that he had to make something more... commercial than his art. He had to care about drawing people to watch his movies. It is irritating I suppose. But yet it is needed. The good thing is that he kept his character and personal signature of his movies into this one too.

I would put a 10/10 because it surpasses every Greek movie I have ever seen, but i still expect more by the director. This is not his peak. So Yannis, I put an 8/10 just to make you do that leap that might make you direct an award winning movie in the end.

Do I recommend it? Of course I do. But it isn't for everyone. It is not a pleasant movie you are gonna enjoy with your girlfriend, drinking cola and eating tortilla dips, no. Such movies, like "Το Μικρό Ψάρι" make you think and feel hard. And that is what I like about them.

I watched "Spirtokouto" with friends. All his next movies, were watched by me into a cinema room, from a seat, just to support and show my respect to one of the greatest and most daring directors Greece has.

I saw it last night with my wife, so it still plays in my mind.From the technical side it is completely professional.The sound quality amazing.The synchronism and the tremendous clarity of it creates an unusual impression of space where the viewer is absorbed until the last ,righteous moment. The story follows the laws of classic noir narration. So, though the protagonist is a payed killer, a certain ethic guides the story. The action is dense and not always foreseeable. All actors play naturally and very well.

An unusually good film for the Greek standards until now, not a film for the whole family because of some strong language , but certainly a film I highly recommend .

"The Small Fish" (aka "Stratos") is an intense and dramatic portrait of contemporary Greece, seen through the eyes of Stratos, a contract killer who works during the day in a bakery, where he silently and passively witnesses the exploitation of workers. His life acquires another meaning when he is behind his car wheel, with a gun in his pocket and a mission to accomplish. But do not think that the movie is executed in correspondence with the dramatic intensity of his criminal life. Not that "The Small Fish" is a bland film either. The point is that director Yannis Economides opted to tell the story from the other side of Stratos' personality. It is really a problem for Stratos, that he has a very soft heart: he is giving all his money to Yorgos, the brother of a guy called Leonidas, who once saved his life, so that Yorgos can execute a plan to free Leonidas from a maximum security prison; and Stratos also sees after a family that lives across his apartment building, that includes a dying grandfather, a little daughter, a disabled father and a very young prostitute mother -who in fact could be the little girl's sister too, but who knows... everything about Stratos' concerns is dark or faint, while those who surround him are screaming, bullying or abusing everybody, including him, of course. He has a violent past and after many years in jail two mob factions want his services. This is just an idea of the main plot elements but there are more that complicate the proceedings, and it takes 133 minutes to reach a fine resolution. Without pointing out the national crisis, unemployment, breaking of moral codes, or unethical actions, "The Small Fish" gives a rich panorama of what a great empire as Greece has become in the 21st century, which should also serve as a warning to the empire of the day and its citizens. And yes, the Greek title "To mikro sari" (that is, the small fish) refers to the popular saying, "Big fish eat small fish".

This is a contemporary film noir. A bleak, harsh look at a society in deep crisis not only of an economic nature but a crisis of moral values as well, where people have lost their moral compass and literally everything is for sale.

It's language is really harsh and this serves the story well because on the one hand it has to do with the mob and on the other hand it signifies the lack of any hope of the main character escaping from the path of the existential annihilation that naturally follows in the end.

People who don't appreciate or understand this realistic depiction of the way the mobsters talk in this movie are the same people who never appreciated the message of movies like Natural Born Killers and thus decided to exhaust their criticism talking about the violence and swearing. No, Ekonomides is not Oliver Stone by any means, but still he's one of the most promising Greek directors right now along with Voulgaris.

This movie is not from the faint hearted. It's a black, unforgiving stare into the abyss. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks right back at you!

N.

Stratos (To Mikro Psari) is a Greek Neo-Noir and it perfectly captures the corrupted and underground life of our protagonist who struggles to find his way into life after jail. The directing is unique, fresh and a perfect match for the style of the movie, making Greek cinema noticable in an ocean of "European Art Films". The cinematography is almost excellent for the film and matches perfectly the directors vision and the feel of the script. The actors are all doing a great job with what they're given and if I had to nitpick and find a flaw(which is not easy) I would probably say that the runtime sometimes feels kind of slow at times but if you're really immersed into the plot, you won't even notice the 137 min passing. In conclusion Stratos is excellent for what it was going for and it really adds something to the genre. Don't miss out on it!

It's dark, full of verbal and physical violence, but down under all those things, there's nothing less than the perfect portrait of a damned person. A person whom one action defined his whole life, a person who found and lost his purpose, an empty person, but still, a person gracefully showing a last act of humanity, before leaving.

Around him, the dark world of crime, a parallel universe that lives side by side with our "normal" one. A universe that is very different to leave, a universe with unspoken laws that bend or break depending on the situation.

Great film, great leading actor, very sharp and intense directing when required. Must see.

If you lived a criminal life, it won't be easy to just step out of it. We know that cliché, even if we never actually had anything to do with criminal life itself. And even (or even more so) in a financially unstable country as Greek, there is always some interests to gain and money to launder.

This does concentrate on a small fish (hence the title) trying to survive in the pond (to make the picture complete). It is understated and sort of mellow. But not mellow when it comes to the language. There is a lot of swearing going on and a lot of repetition. To a point where it gets annoying. It might be the world our character is living at, but the apathy is not appealing nor does it really enhance the viewing experience.

Having said that, the movie is also violent and does quite a few things right. You do know where this is going (paying respect to some great movies, especially with that ending), but never achieving the greatness it set out to. A decent effort that clogs itself up, hindering it to really achieve its full potential

Live your myth in -post economy crisis- greece of the 10's

Movie is so slow that you will fall asleep you will wake up and again you will not have lost anything. The only positive is the realism of the night world (mafia) but beyond that pointless discussions with a lot of meaningless swearing.

This movie is notbad, but certainly not a great either.

Although the story shows potential, teh delivery and teh script doesn't help the end result.

The dialogues are naive and simple, with too much profanity and repeated lines, wasting time and in the end they don't provide any further details to the story.

The actors are doing a good job with a weak script on their hands, but at times they seem to be fighting a losing battle.

The direction is ok, at times it becomes too slow.

The violence scenes however are pretty realistic.

Generally a decent movie that could be a lot better...but it isn't.