5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Nick is a writer in New York when he gets posted to a bureau in Greece. He has waited 30 years for this. He wants to know why his mother was killed in the civil war years earlier. In a parallel plot line we see Nick as a young boy and his family as they struggle to survive in the occupied Greek hillside. The plot lines converge as Nick's investigations bring him closer to the answers.
Starring: Kate Nelligan, John Malkovich, Linda Hunt, Oliver Cotton, Ronald PickupWar | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Although it has the set-up of a classic thriller, 1985’s “Eleni” takes a mournful route when detailing the events of the Greek Civil War. An adaptation of Nicholas Gage’s best-selling autobiography, the picture uses the fist-clenching reaction of revenge to explore a divided era of politics and cruelty, finding a personal story of loss driving the drama, which volleys between subtle and hysterical. “Eleni” doesn’t always come together as director Peter Yates imagines, but there’s a deep sense of emotion that periodically arrives to hold attention, hitting a few dark moments of grief and suffering that motivate the story.
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation is labeled as an HD remaster and looks it. The viewing experience is natural, with strong, organic colors preserving greenery and costuming, while skintones look healthy and real. Detail is satisfactory throughout, making the most of pained close-ups and location particulars, while set ornamentation is open for study. Grain is fine and filmic. Delineation is secure. Source is in terrific shape beyond some minor speckling.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix presents "Eleni" with some dimension, delivering touches of stereo separation that bring newsroom and war zone visits to life. Dialogue exchanges are crisp and clean, managing all sorts of accents and performance speeds, though the overall level of the track is on the quiet side, requiring a boost in volume to bring it up to full force. Scoring is satisfactory, nicely balanced with dramatics. Atmospherics are noticeable, adding depth to sequences.
There is no supplementary material on this disc.
"Eleni" finally achieves a thriller-esque tone in the finale, indulging grand suspense as Gage inches closer to those involved in the brutal occupation. There's sizable heartbreak to manage and a few nail-biting encounters, sending viewers away with a different film than what they began with. Perhaps "Eleni" isn't consistent in this regard, but it's an interesting offering of political and familial unrest, which was a popular moviemaking subject in the 1980s, only here passions are a bit unwieldy, but they still leave a mark.
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