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Movies / Upcoming / Hard Goodbyes: My Father
Hard Goodbyes: My Father

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Hard Goodbyes: My Father (2003)

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85 %
Tomatometer

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Reviews Counted: 27

Fresh: 23

Rotten:4

Average Rating: 7/10

Consensus: Karayannis handles the lead role well, and the result is a poignant exploration of grief.

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Nov 21, 2003 Limited

Synopsis: 10-year-old Elias, a boy living in Athens, makes a pact with his father to watch on television man's first landing on the moon. The two regale each other with stories of Jules Verne and flights of... 10-year-old Elias, a boy living in Athens, makes a pact with his father to watch on television man's first landing on the moon. The two regale each other with stories of Jules Verne and flights of the imagination. They are adventurers and explorers. But chocolate bars left by a father gone on too many business trips are counted, while the countdown to the moonlanding has already begun. The year is 1969. A spaceship takes off, and man soon takes leave of planet earth. And so does Elias' father. It is the imagination and their shared love of storytelling that allow Elias to transcend the unimaginable. This film is a tribute to our parents. [More]


Studio: Sipapu Films

Reviews for Hard Goodbyes: My Father

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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Time Out

A tender and moving drama that deserves wider exposure.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
10/11/05
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Hard Goodbyes could easily have been maudlin, but isn't. Credit an adult script and realistic acting, especially by Giorgos Karayannis as Elias.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
09/16/05
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Panayotopoulou does handle the material with sensitivity, but she relies too much on her young hero's unlikely precocity, which unwittingly diminishes the intensity of a child's very real grief.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
09/16/05
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Considering the delicate and weighty subject matter, the film's tone is surprisingly light, sometimes even humorous, which helps to balance the harsh sentiments that death inevitably brings.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
09/16/05
Laura Kern
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A tender Greek drama documenting a child's disbelief in the face of his father's death.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/13/05
R. Emmet Sweeney
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Goes from being appropriately child-like to simply childish.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
07/26/05
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Panayotopoulou’s story has the ring of autobiographical truth, getting the details of the period and of childhood in general right at every turn.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
05/05/05
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

About nothing so much as a soulful kid's first encounter with the most literal and poetic meanings of the word 'gone.'

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
04/22/05
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times

A sublimely subjective journey from denial to acceptance as a 10-year-old boy comes to terms with the finality of death.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/21/05
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Begins to take on an allegorical, global feel.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
04/12/05
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Greek director-writer Penny Panayotopoulou's compelling debut feature is a psychological drama about an Athenian family dealing with grief.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/23/05
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Not perfect, exciting, fresh, but well crafted, well acted, and very well directed

Full Review Source: Movie Habit | comment Comment
02/09/05
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit

Alternately whimsical and harsh, Hard Goodbyes probably deserves to be seen as a promising first feature, although it lacks the grace and novelty of a similar movie, My Life As a Dog.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
02/04/05
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...has about it the whiff of autobiography, given the specificity of the details and the odd, enchanting drift from an initial tone of social realism toward fantasy.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
01/17/05
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

With soft heartedness and beautiful imagery, the film aptly captures the feeling of disbelief and aversion that hits children in a time of loss.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/15/05
Mark Sells
Film Threat

Youngster Giorgos Karayannis is a marvel in this touching Greek drama about a son's devotion to his father.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/14/05
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

It features an endearing, mature performance from its juvenile lead.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
11/29/04
Marc Mohan
Oregonian

Aptly captures the feeling of disbelief and aversion that hits children in a time of loss.

Full Review Source: Oregon Herald | comment Comment
11/26/04
Mark Sells
Oregon Herald

Ultimately doesn't have anything that I haven't seen before in My Life as a Dog or a hundred other movies just like it.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/23/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
 
 
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