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      The Suspended Step of the Stork

      1991 2h 23m Drama Romance List
      Reviews 87% 500+ Ratings Audience Score A reporter working on the border spots an old man who he thinks is a Greek politician who disappeared years ago. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

      View All (1) Critics Reviews
      Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A static pic, where for the most part nothing happens and everything seems hopeless. Rated: C Feb 2, 2014 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member How many borders does one have to cross to find himself at home? Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member My third film from the director and the poorest one by far. The shots are fantastic as always and the foggy atmosphere are making sure that there's no doubt that you're watching Theodoros Angelopoulos' work. The slow, panning shots are splendid. The story is a bit boring and the first half was hard for me to hang on to. Too much loose threads, too few big scenes. We follow Alexandre, a TV reporter and his crew, that's working in a border town, where a lot of refugees from several countries stays. At the same time there's a lady here. She is the former wife of an disappeared Greek politician that Alexandre think he has seen among the refugees. Alexandre want's her to indentify him, but it's not easy. Some other people are presented too, like a younger lady that turns out to be a small crush for Alexandre. The last hour or so earns my rating since I felt it was a whole lot better, with some incredible scenes and a bigger punch on screen - that wrist slit was a "game changer". I like the weirder scenes that results in something less weird when the scene is done - that's a nice move. It's cool to see the dude from "8 1/2" here and once again I spot people in yellow raincoats. What's up with that? That's three movies with three groups of dudes in yellow raincoats. I won't give the film much hate - it's a sedative film for the observer, filled with fitting music and some quite nice happenings. I've seen the man do it better, that's all. The story does not hit me so hard this time. 7 out of 10 balloons. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Pretentious, monolithic, boring and with underdeveloped ideas, this film is certainly not one of the highpoints in Angelopoulos' oeuvre. The setting is very interesting though and the cinematography does a very good job in capturing the depressing, grey landscape of North Greece and the Balkans. Unfortunately, the script does not help: the characters are empty vessels that have zero interest for the viewer and their motives do not always makes sense. The film, of course, is not concerned much with psychology but uses the characters as cogs for its conceptual dimension, a bit like in the films of Antonioni. (After all Tonino Guerra, Antonioni's usual collaborator, is co-writer of the script here.) But in this case, the characters have become too thin, too much without any personal character, to ground the concepts of the film into something more concrete. This also affects the performances and not in a good way, to the point that we are left wondering what great actors such as Mastroyanni and Moreau are adding to the film. Some internal monologues in the style of Bresson here and there seem random and add nothing to the image, like when the protagonist describes the weather when we have already experienced it through the visuals. The mood is certainly there and some beautiful scenes have an impact to the viewer after the film ends, but generally speaking, this work fails to make its points clear. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member The idea is very good, and also the atmosphere, but the lack of rhythm and hyertatism which domains all the movie makes very difficult to appreciate it. Aso, the trend of this director (also shared by others) to make some actions from the characters being meaningess does not help. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member An overlooked masterpiece by greek master Angelopoulos. The film was favoured to win the palme d'or in Cannes, but with Polanski as head of jury the winner was the inferior Barton Fink by the Coen-brothers. Stunning images and a moving reunion of the two greatest stars of European Cinema, Jeanne Moreau and Marcello Mastroianni. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member a new sensitivity for persons and feelings in his work, beautiful set-pieces Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      Photos

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      The Suspended Step of the Stork

      The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991) The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991) The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991) The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis A reporter working on the border spots an old man who he thinks is a Greek politician who disappeared years ago.
      Director
      Theodoros Angelopoulos
      Producer
      Phoebe Economopoulos
      Screenwriter
      Theodoros Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra, Petros Markaris, Thanassis Valtinos
      Genre
      Drama, Romance
      Original Language
      French (Canada)
      Runtime
      2h 23m