Thanasis Vengos

Synopsis
Pantelis Voulgaris directed this three-part Greek anthology film in which three middle-aged men confront their personal demons. In the 40-minute “A Silver Coin on the Lips,” a Macedonian archaeologist (Dimitris Katalifos) stumbles onto the remains of a soldier with a coin on his lips, payment to the ferryman Charon of legend; this discovery reminds him of his son’s death, and he departs for the border outpost where the death occurred. A 34-minute segment, “The Last of the Lesser Whites,” takes place in Thrace where ornithologists meet with the game warden (Thanassis Vengos) who watches over a beautiful wilderness area with thousands of birds. A Norwegian woman in the group seeks the only known survivor of rare Bergen geese, but a poacher shoots it. The 40-minute “Vietnam” follows a rich factory owner (Giorgos Armenis), a man in such a state of emotional torment after his wife of many years leaves him that he drunkenly destroys a bar named Vietnam. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival.
Bob Stewart, AllmovieRead More »

The stories of three lonely people surviving a sweltering summertime in Athens are interwoven in this gentle romantic drama. Nikos used to be a merchant seaman, traveling around the globe to exotic places and testing his wits and his mettle in different situations. Now he is retired, living in Athens with his wife whom he no longer loves. While at the train station, he encounters a woman who faints more or less into his arms. From her, he learns that this day has already been special to her for two reasons: her husband just died, and it is her birthday. Curiously, this meeting sparks new life in him. Another man suffering through the hot Athens summer is a bank employee who gets calls every day at four p.m. from a woman who seeks to arouse him. What succeeds in doing is rousing his curiosity, which he is likely to regret giving in to. Finally, an elderly woman lives in near isolation, lost in dreams of bygone love. Her new neighbor is a young woman who makes a good connection with her. ~ Clarke Fountain, RoviRead More »