AGORA was completed in 2009 and had it's premiere at the Cannes film festival back in may 2009. The film was forever in limbo, the producers unable to find a distributor. It was released in Spain and was a big hit there but not here in North America. While films like 300 and Clash of the Titans didn't have any problems getting wide releases, AGORA, which cost $75 million to make, was all but dismissed by the studios in Hollywood. An indie company acquired it and its opening weekend consisted of two cinemas in the U.S. and I don't know if i was even shown in Canada. If this doesn't reflect the sad state of cinema going in the year 2010 I don't know what will.
I purchased the movie and will watch it soon. It looks AMAZING. As a fan of Sword & Sandal films, it looks like one of the best looking films I've ever seen. As for the content, like script and acting, well, I will wait and see how good it is but I find the whole thing quite disheartening.
2 comments:
I watched this on Netflix Instant.
Loved it.
Agora is definitely a favourite of mine. It had limited release here in Australia at the time when I saw it but it is still shown periodically on TV. Another film with similar themes is the little-known Two Suns in the Sky (1991) from Greece which also deals with that period of religious transition and persecution in the eastern Roman Empire. The setting is Antioch 381AD where Timotheus the Actor and his troupe are being persecuted for staging Euripides' play "The Bacchae" as part of the emperor's drive to wipe out all pagan elements. A rich, dark, moody film with some nudity (all of which for some reason has found its way into the trailer !). The link below is to the subtitled film at the youtube channel of the director himself.
Two Suns in the Sky (1991) - by George Stamboulopoulos
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ8qhdh8tgg&pp=ygUPc3RhbWJvdWxvcG91bG9z
(trailer) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h7i9bWNSgjc&pp=ygUPc3RhbWJvdWxvcG91bG9z
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255974/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
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