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Of all the films I saw at the 2003 Seattle International Film Festival this was my favorite. It compares favorably to the Swedish film My Life as a Dog, dealing as it does with a young boy growing up and coming to terms with the loss of one of his parents. It's a very understated, nuanced little work and one probably personal for the director. Unlike the very similar Valentin (an Argentinan film that opened SIFF this year) Hard Goodbye's doesn't attempt to overdo the humor surrounding the loss of a parent but treats it as the serious thing that it no doubt is to a child. Life in this film isn't lightened by the constant goofy situations that occur in Valentin but rather plays out with the deep frustrations and sense of loss that accompanies a death in the family. Like the equally fine Italian film The Son's Room however, it never goes overboard into uneccessary melodrama or morbidity. The photography is remarkably accomplished for what is certainly a low-budget effort, in fact it was probably one of the nicest looking films I saw at this years Seattle festival. Unfortunately there do not appear to be that many Greek films that make it over to the U.S. these days but if you have an opportunity to see this evocative work, by all means do so.
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