If I saw this and "Landscape in the Mist" a year ago or so, I'm not sure if I would like them or even be able to finish them. Brought to my attention by the tragic passing of this great director, I feel like these films are hitting me at the right time. Because while I can perhaps understand that some may find something like "Eternity and a Day" to be boring, self- indulgent, or the most notorious pretentious -- on the other hand, it is for me something enchantingly beautiful and unlike few if any movies I have seen before. The angle I'm going to use to approach this one might be far-reaching and/or random, but bear with me and realize I usually tend to mentally tie-in what I have just watched into what I have watched previous. But in this case, it is what I have just read. I couldn't help but think of the character of this film as the Stephen Dedalus character from Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", but now 40 years or so into the future, on his death-bed and in despair. The protagonist here, likewise a poet, has lived a detached isolated existence from his wife and family. It is what Stephen would have wanted, so as to express himself freely as possible, but now in the waning years of his life the detachment has left him with an emptiness, a void he is trying to somehow fill (again, harking back to the oppressive emptiness felt in "Landscape in the Mist"). Angelopoulos incorporates letters from the characters' wife, narrated by her in poignant fashion, and often seamlessly transitions into flash-backs. This is again something intimate, yet suddenly sprawling. While initially one is enveloped in a natural setting, Angelopoulos then soon drifts into the fantastical and dream-like. Like with "Landscape in the Mist", it all shouldn't be taken so literal. I believe to derive the greatest pleasure from this one should just sit back and let Angelopoulos take you where he wishes, for even if some stretches may not fully register, the high-points so totally make up for it. And once again, the visual compositions are just astounding and at the very least continuously interesting, with here the often long takes aren't even as noticeable straight away and once I realized them, I was then amazed in some scenes. There is this purity in the visuals which few directors works have been able to match and none surpass. Purity is probably the best and only way I can describe it.

Shamefully neglected in Britain,Angelopoulos is one of modern cinema's few remaining grand masters.Here he loads his tale- of a terminally ill poet who leaves his family seaside home and befriends a refugee Albanian boy- with not only his usual intellectual rigour and visual majesty,but also massive emotional resonance.A mesmerizing journey seamlessly interchanging sundrenched memories and landscapes in the mist: bleakness illuminated with shafts of purest joy,it is a film touched by angels.

Theo Angelopoulus is much more than a genius. His latest film: " An Eternity And One Day " is much more than a masterpiece. Angelopoulus is like a magician, everything can become poetry with his mystical touch. Although the film is full of great performances, especially the little kid, and the story is relatively simple though extremely moving, the merit of this movie is its compelling script, and the most elegant and clever camera motion I have ever seen. Everything seems to be in harmony, even the slightest details which are sometimes the most compelling. Memorable speaches, memorable music, memorable performances, memorable silences....Sometimes Angelopoulus doesn't even have to say a word...silence can say everything. I consider Angelopoulus as the real master of todays cinema, the cinema of poetry. The best film of the decade.I would like to point out that the real measure of quality in todays cinema is the Palme D'Or....." Sex, lies and videotape, Pulp Fiction, An Eternity and One Day, Taste of Cherry ". Much more than masterpieces.

I can take Bruno Ganz any day! This one, it's more of a subdued role -- it reminds me of "Everybody's Fine", I can picture Marcello Mastroianni in the lead role of this story. Ganz appeared with a beard and delivered a restrained performance.Bruno Ganz exudes a certain strength and energy in the characters he played (Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire" 1988, Gillian Armstrong's "The Last Days of Chez Nous" 1992), with an outward strong physique. This role is sort of different: he is portraying a man beset with an illness and is unsettled about his upcoming hospitalization. He's also "tormented" by his own conscience of past episodes he had with his beloved wife -- her presence recurs in "haunting" flashbacks at this fragile juncture of his impending life's end.It's his journey and adventure with a little boy whom he by chance (or fate) met. The child became a link to the revived life force and energy in Alexander (Ganz' character). No more brushing off things, no more "doesn't have time" excuses; he is to re-prioritize the events and things in his life and to make a difference -- to do something meaningful for someone other than himself -- to this little boy (in turn to himself). The child's situation prompted him to take risks -- it's about time for him to do so. He's finally experiencing living! The little boy brought him back to life, living, and caring -- woke him up, freed his self-blaming mind and pulled him out of his doldrums. The realization that action speaks louder than words (literally so when he's a writer all his life) gave him fresh insights. The whole film is poetically put together. Director Angelopoulos has intermixed political, intellectual issues with aspects of life events and levels of emotions. Good performances from Ganz, the little boy, and Anna, the wife. The story has its episodic twists and turns, reality and flashbacks, chase scenes (yes, there is action) and "mindwalks", yet there is a certain steady pace and quietness to the film. Some might find it slow and will need patience to follow the film -- don't go if you're tired, you might miss the nuances of Angelopoulos' poetic storytelling and subtle image hints. It's a beautiful, philosophical, and mind-probing piece -- prompts us to reflect on how we lead our lives. Definitely not Hollywood fare. NFE. I find an affinity of story structure to the current box office hit, "The Sixth Sense", which also revolves around a man, a child, (and a woman): a man finding redemption through the time he spent with a little boy, and trying to resolve his neglectful past relationship with his wife. In this case, "The Sixth Sense" is more "real" while "Eternity and A Day" is more like a dream state. Also brings to mind is Francesco Rosi's "Christ Stopped at Eboli" 1979 (in Italian with Gian Maria Volonte, Irene Papas), another quiet philosophical journey of a man discovering life, living and himself among simple village folks.