This film takes place at a small village at the greek island of Chios, sometime around 1960. When the local field watchman dies, the agronomist must assign a new field watchman to be responsible for this village. We watch as four different people take this job and fail one after the other...
Stavros and Charlotte - i.e. the director and his partner in life and art, Charlotte van Gelder - are wandering the streets of a burdensome reality like immigrants, tracing the world around them through friendships, journeys and political quests. Made with minimal means with a few rolls of black and white film they managed to scrape together, this is a thoroughly unconventional film that defies traditional narrative structures, spectacularly revealing the director's true vision: a primordial cinema full of imagery that comes out of nowhere and communicates freely, like a small wonder. A large slice of the international film critic community - including Frenchman Louis Skorecki who described the film as a comet - will adore "Coatti" and continue to support Tornes' lonely path until the end.
In this avant-garde look at a series of unique or eccentric men and women, director Stavros Tornes has created a film that is visually engaging, but too obscure in many points to be understood. The main protagonists are a young taxi driver -- a man who has had some very unusual, puzzling, and inspirational experiences -- and a middle-aged painter he gains as a new friend. The two men are complemented by a few tough women (all played by the same actress), a pair of verbose politicos, and a handful of other distinctive characters. By the end of the movie, transformations are in store for the pair of friends, reflecting the tenor of the film throughout. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
Stavros Tornes' last film in Italy bears a title that fits the director like a glove, especially when it comes to his ability to start out from a non-fiction perspective and descend into full-blown fantasy. A boat going up the river, a fire in the heart of the city and a man wondering around the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna, are some of the elements that comprise "Eksopragmatiko", a mournful movie (according to the director), which requires viewers to keep an open mind and an open heart.
