Little_Tyke
I don't like black and white films full stop. Once colour was invented, why bother ever again with black and white, except to pretend it's art, innit? Also, people may feel they have to love this film because it's set in Ancient Greece and that alone demands respect and reverence. Me, well, I just watch a movie and decide whether I like it or not.This Young Aphrodites film was boring. It never took off. It was mainly just a young guy and gal endlessly chasing each other over rugged rocks, the little rascals. The older couple were about as convincing as a politician up for re-election. I don't think the girl ever smiled even once, which to my mind made her a bit of a sourpuss and not worth bothering with.As for the movie's production qualities, the sound was terrible. Lot's of scratching as if a million insects were rubbing their legs together. Maybe they were bored, too.
emdoub
Okay - I'm a USAian, and not particularly ashamed of it. I like my movies with characters I can care about, a story that interests me, filmed in a visually pleasing fashion.The B&W photography was okay - some good scenery, some solid storytelling, but several shots either poorly framed, or in such close-up that it was hard to tell what was being shown - or why.The characters were, I'm afraid, little more than cardboard cutouts - the young girl who showed much skin, even more indecision about the boy who she fascinated, and a remarkable lack of background or depth. The love/lust-crazed adult shepherd and his paramour, the wife of an absent fisherman - the story they told can be seen in almost any cheap neighborhood bar almost every week - and seeing the couple in the bar will give you more insight into why they're doing this dance than this movie will.The older, bullying boy remained a cipher. The crutch-using leader, the other shepherds, the rest of the fisher-folk village - either didn't get enough screen time to fill out their characters, or too much screen time for the set-dressing they were. The primitive instruments and folk dances were interesting, but took away from the story rather than adding to it - the right television commercials would have fit in better with the story.A side note to European filmmakers - symbology is representative. Symbols can be a marvelous way to enhance storytelling, but they are never, in themselves, the story.I'll give it a 4 for visual interest and the bit of dramatic tension that was achieved, and remain mystified as to why anyone would consider this masterful film-making. I guess I'm just a Philistine.
anubis-45
Like the other reviewers above, I too was captivated by this movie upon it's initial (and seemingly short-lived) theatrical release. It must have been about 1968 or 1969 when I saw it at one of those 'arty' type cinemas in Sydney, and I am almost certain that that copy was overdubbed in English, which made it a lot more watchable, even if it did upset the lip-synch! I was enthralled from the very first frames, and all I can do is agree with an earlier reviewer who noted that he/she did not want it to end, and another reviewer who stated that it was like a beautiful dream that one wishes that one could have every night.Sure, there are a few glitches in the continuity, and many more in the reasoning behind the screenplay (?) but the whole beauty of this little gem of a film is in the IMAGERY, supported mostly by the minimal dialogue, and gorgeous musical score. You can actually believe that you are looking through a time-window into an ancient coming together of opposing faiths and forces.I have a subtitled copy on VHS, which was cross-recorded many years ago from my original copy on Beta (before the Beta died), but it was originally recorded from our SBS channel (still in its formative years in the early 1980's) and the quality leaves something to be desired. (Ghosting of the images, which leaves some scenes difficult to watch, and several picture rolls, due to the advancing age of the tape.) Even so though, it is still a powerful piece of work, and I would dearly love to have a crisp, clear copy on DVD.As none seems forthcoming, I shall have to rely on the annual playing of my copy on VHS, and simply remember how achingly beautiful it was on the big screen, all those years ago..........
damien-16
Not many people may have seen this film. It's probably almost impossible to get hold of these days. A great pity. I saw it twice in the seventies. Ever since the first viewing it has been in my personal top five. It's a story told in images, full of wonderful symbolism, beautifully photographed in black and white. It plays in a long ago Greece, in a village by the sea. The men are out fishing, the women are waiting for their return, and from the mountains a group of shepherds come down with their flocks. Thus the land meets the see, earth and water, male and female, birds and stones, a stork and a fish, birds captured in fishing nets etc. etc. This archetypical encounter is played out by the young (who remembers the intriguing poster of the prepubescent girl with the fishing net draped over her shoulder?) and the mature. I remember, when the film ended, I did not want it to end. I was feeling melancholic and a little sad that you could not be there as well. This film is like a dream you would wish you could dream every night.
AD
