Magnitika pedia

Simple and meaningful, natural dialogues with a twist, great photography, typical greek environments, everything so familiar and clear, 90's aesthetics but not forced. An honest journey of vulnerability, in the search of a deeper connection. Excellent, poetic work, awesome acting. Elena and Adonis, with their real names in the movie, make you forget that you are watching two actors in action. The dialogues, the awkwardness between them and the preserved tenderness that slowly develops, their bursts of laughter and the sudden deep confessions, kept me there connected to them until the last scene and until the next day.

When I first saw this movie I didn't know it was comedy. My friends told me there was this drama movie playing in the summer cinema, didn't tell me much about it but I went anyway. The first 30 minutes I laughed a lot and I felt embarrassed because I knew it was a dramatic film. Elena plays her role so well she has this awkwardness and her humour is to my taste. The role has depth as she is a mother who is tired, tired of her life and constantly pleasing others. She finds freedom on this island and in the company of this stranger. I love the way this film feels, its captured in way that brings an essence of nostalgia, its heartfelt, especially in the scene where she sings. I was so touched and my god that soundtrack is a masterpiece.

In this gentle Greek dramedy, Elena (Elena Topalidou) and Antonis (Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos) meet by chance and decide to travel together to find a place to bury Antonis' mother's ashes. Director Yorgos Goussis allows the actors to ad lib their lines around a loose narrative which makes for wonderfully realistic performances. There's genuine affection between the two characters but, refreshingly, it remains a platonic friendship throughout. The chill keyboard-based musical score by Lefteris Volanis perfectly offsets their journey which is by turns sad, whimsical and full of the joy of human connection. A critical and commercial success in Greece, Magnetic Fields deserved a wider audience. Thankfully, in Australia, we have the wonderful (and free) SBS Online to brings us such lesser known treasures.

Being a supporter of the Greek cinematography and authenticity, I was very excited about this movie after reading all the fabulous reviews. When I was watching it, however, all I kept thinking is how on earth it attracted so good reviews? Why people are even considering to submit this movie as the official entry for the Academy Awards? The acting is overall nothing outstanding and very mediocre; compared to what others thought, I enjoyed watching Tsiotsiopoulos, but I couldn't find any joy in Topalidou. It was like she was on cannabis or substances throughout the whole movie. The plot is nothing interesting, nor are most of the discussions. The film seems to have been very low budget, as it was shot by an iPhone camera at times... I genuinely only liked the nature and the views, as well as the fact that I was watching a movie in my native language. Shame other outstanding Greek movies so far haven't gotten that level of attraction.

We should not have to deconstruct a movie that we have enjoyed.

The old video cassette aesthetic, shooting with a camcorder, 4:3 ratio, let's head on. This is a proposal. Let's exploit high ISO and mix it up with the RBG settings on editing to make a statement.

Yet this indie road movie does not convince and along it's way it looses it self. Only the male lead seems to be standing, the script falls apart along the way and the editing seems raw and cruel between the scenes.

You need more than patience to complete the whole story. It has some nice scenes, filled with nostolagia but in general the movie does not take you where you want to go.