The Great Love Songs

“The Great Love Songs” is a song-cycle in which the renowned Greek composer and songwriter Manos Hadjidakis, who wrote the Oscar-winning “Never on a Sunday,” set music to a series of ancient, medieval and modern Greek poems (by, among others, Sappho, Euripides, Elytis, Myrtiotissa, Sarantari, and Cavafy). This poetic documentary by Pantelis Voulgaris both captures and visually elaborates on that creative process. “Voulgaris’s rhythmic editing, apparent in all his work, serves him particularly well here, as he cuts back and forth back between rehearsals for performances of the Hadjidakis songs, and his own poetic visualization of their lyrics. The songs are elegiac, often dealing with the search for a lost paradise or childhood innocence, and Voulgaris brings out all their soulful sadness and yearning” (Cinematheque Ontario). “The film is a game between image and sound . . . The camera lens illustrates the emotions stirred by the erotic atmosphere of the music. We follow the camera as it wanders through Athens; the nostalgic Athens of yesteryear; the big modern-day city; the Athens of lovers; the Athens of tourists. Our journey through the city is intercut with footage from the studio recordings of the songs” (Thessaloniki I.F.F.). B&W and Colour, 35mm, in Greek with English subtitles. 75 mins.