What it’s about
Setting out in search of their elusive father, who they believe lives in Germany, young Alexandre (Zeke) and his adolescent sister Voula (Palaiologou) leave home and cross paths with a variety of Greek citizens, including an estranged uncle, a brutish truck driver, and a group of itinerant thespians. Befriended by friendly Orestes (Stratos Tzortzoglou), the children's obsessive quest for an elusive father figure leads them to some unexpected places.
Why we love it
This ravishing, utterly dreamlike road fable by Greek master Angelopoulos features some of the most remarkable visual set pieces you will ever see: a wedding party half-buried in blinding white snow; a gargantuan hand rising from the ocean. Throughout, the director evinces a strong concern with Greek history and national identity, embodied in his young protagonists fixation on their paternity and the down-and-out actors moribund routines. Though Voula and Alexandre's quixotic journey through wintry landscapes and along muddy back roads is largely a somber, unhappy affair, the remarkable performances, mobile camerawork, and Angelopoulos’s eye for the jarring epiphany make “Mist” a demanding but ultimately enthralling experience.