THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS [2021] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] A Delightful Road Movie Full of Love, Humour, Healing and Hope!
Ex-championship diver Victoras [Vasilis Magouliotis] whiles away his days on the Greek coast, toiling away at a factory with only his dreams, medals and grandmother for company. When a phone call summons him to Germany, a simple road trip is the answer and that is until he crosses paths with the handsome Mathias [Anton Weil] a free-spirited hitchhiker who tempts Victoras to take the road not taken.
‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ is a picture-postcard travelogue about the familial ties that bind, the boys that catch our eye, and the twists and turns that lead us home.
Despite its title, ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ doesn’t have much to do with the answer. On the contrary, it raises questions: existential and life questions about our society, as we rediscover the world through the eyes of Victoras. What happens when we get out of our comfort zone and take a step forwards the unknown?
When the story takes a transcendental turn during the road trip through the majestic Italian landscape and the Alps, our characters look very small in contrast to the beauty and glory of nature.
Stelios Kammitsis, director of ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS.’
CRITIC: “BEAUTIFULLY SHOT, WITH GREAT BANTER, TERRIFIC CHEMISTRY AND SEXY MEN IN GORGEOUS LOCATIONS” * * * * * SHADOWS ON THE WALL
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2021 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF): Nominated: Orpheus Award for Best Feature Film for Stelios Kammitsis (Director). Nominated: Orpheus Award for Best Performance for Vasilis Magouliotis (actor).
FILM FACT No.2: ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ is directed by Stelios Kammitsis. Born in Greece, he studied film at the State University of New York in Purchase, worked as an assistant to Palme d'Or winner Theo Angelopoulos and later to Dimitris Papaioanou, artistic director of the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Dimitris Papaioanou also worked as a screenwriter for various Greek television series. Stelios Kammitsis feature film debut was ‘Jerks.’ For his work on the script for ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS,’ and Stelios Kammitsis received grants from the Nipkow program in 2013. The Greek film and theatre actor Vasilis Magouliotis took on the role of Victor, the German actor Anton Weil the role of Mathias. The first screening took place on the 27th February, 2021 at the Mardi Gras Film Festival. It was shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in early April 2021. The theatrical release in the United States is scheduled on the 20th July, 2021. The film is a co-production between Cyprus, Greece and Italy. Producers are Vicky Miha, Fenia Cossovitsa, Luca Legnani and Kammitsis, and the feature received support from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus, the Greek Film Centre, Apulia Film Commission, ERT, Creative Europe MEDIA and IDM Südtirol.
Cast: Vasilis Magouliotis, Anton Weil, Pier Andrea Bosna, Vassilis Dimitroulias, Rinio Dragasaki, Roni Enwiya, Stella Fyrogeni, Antonis Katsaris, Maria Luce Latorre, Franzesco Lopez, Anita Lorusso, Thodoros Mihopoulos, Marc Pistono, Elisa Principe, Mauro Racanti, Brando Rossi, Tia, Chiara Ore Visca and Pierpaolo Vitale
Director: Stelios Kammitsis
Producers: Fenia Cossovitsa, Luca Legnani and Vicky Miha
Screenplay: Stelios Kammitsis
Composer: Francesco Cerasi
Costume Design: Alkistis Mamali
Cinematography: Thodoros Mihopoulos (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English and English SDH
Running Time: 80 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Peccadillo Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ [2021] is a very cute little road movie meet 20-something protagonist Victoras [Vasilis Magouliotis], his life in Greece consists of reckless cycling, working cash in hand in a workshop and taking flowers to his grandmother in hospital. The remaining embers of his passion for diving are still evident in his trampoline acrobatics, walking handstands and mirror posing in his apartment.
Victoras is an ex-championship diver who reconsiders his life after his grandmother passes away. So Victoras dusts off his mother’s Audi car, and armed with a guide to Bavaria and German language cassette he hesitantly sets off towards Germany to reunite with his mother, whom he has not seen for more than 6 years.
It’s on the ferry to Italy that Victoras locks eyes with the handsome Mathias [Anton Weil] and the pair later talk on deck, with the quiet and introverted Victoras wary of the outgoing and confident German, who is a young man who is both enigmatic as he is peculiar, as well at times can be so annoying. Mathias’s cheekiness and upbeat attitude will clash with Victoras, who is much shyer and slightly reserved, but we all know, especially when it comes to romantic films, that opposites will eventually attract.
The following morning Mathias persuades Victoras to be his guide through Italy to Bavaria and thus kicks off a road trip with the two men gradually getting to know each other. Mathias is determined to get Victoras to loosen up, suggesting 20 questions, teasing Victoras about his restaurant orders and a detour for some lake swimming.
Somewhat inevitably a growing connection develops between the pair, aided by some warm and witty dialogue and the winning chemistry of the two leads, despite both being underwritten. Mathias is given no backstory or real character detail. When he surprises Victoras by taking him to a wedding reception no information is given as to how he knows the couple. Little is revealed of Victoras’s complex relationship with his mother until some compelling third-act scenes with an excellent Angeliki [Stella Fyrogeni] who of course is Victoras’s mother.
Simple, unpretentious and utterly adorable, and director Stelios Kammitsis’s gay drama is not going to revolutionise the future of LGBTQ-themed cinema. But that’s where its charm lies. After watching so many films about intolerance and unrequited loves, it is nice to see every once in a while a competently made lightweight film where its gay characters do not wallow in their own misery and self-pity.
Director Stelios Kammitsis has a delicate eye for detail, assured sense of pace and avoidance of sentimentalism that makes ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ a very pleasant viewing experience. But the film would never have worked without the presence of its two leading actors. Vasilis Magouliotis as Victoras who is so adorable you'll want to smother him with kisses while Anton Weil plays his manic- pixie-dream-boy type of character with admirable restraint and, thus, avoids making Mathias an annoying guy.
Director Stelios Kammitsis’s likeable film is engaging and enjoyable but could have benefited from fleshed out character development within a longer running time. But after getting to know both Victoras and Mathias, I could’ve spent another three hours with these guys.
THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS MUSIC TRACK LIST
DEAD BOYS (Music by Sam Fender) (Lyrics by Sam Fender) [Performed by Sam Fender]
CORRI RAGAZZO (Music by S. Saletti) (Lyrics by S. Saletti) [Performed by Eugenio Saletti]
IO MI RICORDO (Music by S. Saletti) (Lyrics by S. Saletti) [Performed by Eugenio Saletti]
I WISH YOU LOVED ME (Music by S. Saletti) (Lyrics by S. Saletti) [Performed by Eugenio Saletti]
WE WELCOME [Performed by RAC Feat. Katie Herzig]
VITA SOCIALE (Music by Malteo Mobrici) (Lyrics by Malteo Mobrici)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Peccadillo Pictures presents the film ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ with a beautiful stunning 1080p image and is helped to enhance the film with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film has very strikingly detailed and consistent image. Much of the film takes place during bright summer days with a lot of driving sequences, and the image captures the essence of the setting with tremendous amounts of detail. Additionally, facial features and other textures are all on display gives a very natural look throughout the film. Colours are consistently vivid, and manage to capture the bright lushness of the lake's surrounding woods and the landscapes of the different locations they drive throughout their journey. Contrast remains incredibly high throughout the film producing full-bodied black levels and whites that never look overblown. All in all, this is a fantastic looking Blu-ray disc which gives you a joyous experience. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Peccadillo Pictures brings us the film ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ with a brilliant 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The mix isn't tasked with doing much other than making sure the dialogue that is clean and very easily heard which it does with great ease here. The sound is primarily loaded through the front, as dialogue spills through the centre channel while various ambient effects are filtered through the front and rear channels as needed. There's little that is obvious about the mix, so sounds are generally floating between channels, generating an effortless immersive experience that highlights the sounds of the lake, the breeze blowing through the foliage. This is mainly a very quiet film that makes good use of every bit of dialogue and sound effects are distinct and purposeful. It's not going to be used as reference for anyone's next demo, but it certainly goes above and beyond in terms of setting the tone of a wonderful film.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: DOWNHILL [2015] Here we get to view a short film by director Stelios Kammitsis. On a sunny day in September, we see a woman marches down a winding road on a Mediterranean island dragging her suitcase behind her. Then we see this man is driving down the road with his old delivery car and picks her up, after some reluctance from the woman. As they drive downhill, the missing pieces of the story gets to unravel, and the news that so much upset this woman is revealed. One thing is for sure, whatever happened earlier, no one should find out. The story of a mother trying to come to terms with the admission of her son's sexuality in an island community that is taking the first step toward the recognition of same-sex relationships.
Cast: Lydia Fotopoulou and Loukianos Moshonas
Director: Stelios Kammitsis
Producer: Stelios Kammitsis
Screenplay: Stelios Kammitsis
Composer: Stavros Makris
Costume Design: Alkistis Mamali
Cinematography: Thodoros Mihopoulos (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audio: Ancient Greek
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 13 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Peccadillo Pictures
Special Feature: ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ – A Retrospective [2021] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [6:17] Here we to view interviews with the Director and Cast. Here we first meet the director Stelios Kammitsis who informs us that what inspired him to do the screenplay for the film, was his fascination with diving and always wanted to be an athlete and his father was a javelin athlete, and grew up with an athlete family and felt that diving was like dancing in the air, and so inspired him to write notes for a screenplay for his film ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS.’ Next we get to meet Vasilis Magouliotis who played the character Victoras and was cast for the film by the director, but for a much smaller part in the film, but a couple of months later before shooting was schedule to start, director Stelios Kammitsis telephoned him to say there was a serious problem, because the original actor to play the part of Victoras has suddenly left the production and wanted Vasilis Magouliotis to play the character Victoras and would he agree to play the part, so he asked to have the script sent to him to make the final decision, so he read the script and agreed to play the part of Victoras, but eventually found it difficult and challenging before filming started, because for five months had to do a lot physical training, swimming, diving lessons, and especially diving techniques and found it a very interesting process. Next we meet Anton Weil who played the character Mathias, and informs us that his character in the film, loves to travel, loves to play games, loves to tease, loves to be on the road, and the story is about two people who are not comfortable with language with each other, and loved the second layer to play with, and feels you are a different person when you talk in another language that the other person who cannot speak that language in another country, and feels this is perfect for his character in the film. The director Stelios Kammitsis wanted the Greek guy to have blond hair and the German guy to have dark hair, but instead decided he wanted the German guy to look more like a Greek guy, and also wanted the Greek guy to look more like a German guy, and to flip there stereo type characters, which to my sounded all very confusing. But Stelios Kammitsis wanted to have some freedom with the two characters, to expand their characters without any barriers, and see where that would take them. Anton Weil feels he wanted to play a character that the audience would not know whether he was gay and for people to make up their own mind what he was, but also wanted to show his character has a free soul and who loves to love. Vasilis Magouliotis says working on a road movie was very hard work and at the same time very exciting, because he has never done a film like this before, because every day was a different location, every week it was a different city. The film was mainly shot in Greece, Italy and Cyprus, that the director had never sot a film before in Cyprus. Director Stelios Kammitsis informs us that he has never done a film like this before and it was very challenging, but at the at the same time really enjoyed the experience, especially with our time on the road, but by the end of the shoot he was totally exhausted, but at the same time found it very fulfilling artistically, but at the same time, director Stelios Kammitsis had a great cast and the crew and was a joy shooting the film. Anton Weil feels the road movie ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ is about the search for life, searching for one’s identity and to also find out who he was reall and people who want to change and the story is more about travel and the goal is about transformation and things you learn on your journey and also how you can look at life. Director Stelios Kammitsis most favourite scene in the film he enjoyed directing without a doubt was when Victoras and Mathias arrive at the home of Angeliki [Stella Fyrogeni] who of course is Victoras’s mother and especially where the characters feel uncomfortable and nervous reaction, especially from the Mother’s point of view and how she reacts clumsy. At the end of this special feature interviews from director and the two main actors, Anton Weil had just done a massive workout in preparation for the shoot of the film and informs us that he is not that fit anymore to be honest. So all in all, this is quite a nice little special feature interviews and getting to know the people’s insights into the making of the film and is well worth viewing, despite it being just over 6 minutes.
Special Feature: Script To Screen Comparison [2021] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:08] What you get to view is a split screen image, and at the top image you get to view the two actors Anton Weil and Vasilis Magouliotis sitting at a kitchen table reading the script and the below image is you get to see the actual script scrolling up the screen in what they are reading, then eventually you get to see the actual scene with the two actors in the car, where Mathias is asking Victoras 20 questions, then we get to see a short scene of the two actors at the lake.
Official UK Trailer [2021] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:27] This is the Original Official United Kingdom Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS.’
Peccadillo Pictures Trailers: Here we get to view eight gay themed trailers and they are as follows:
‘And Then We Danced’ [2019] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:22]
‘MONSOON’ [2019] [1080p] [2.35:1] [1:45]
‘Are We Lost Forever’ [2020] [1080p] [2.35:1] [1:41]
‘Cocoon’ [2020] [1080p] [1.37:1] [1:48]
‘The Prince’ [El Principe] [2019] [1080p] [1.85:1] [1:38]
Boys On Film 21: ‘Beautiful Secret’ [2021] [1080p] [[1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [1:40]
‘Sequin In A Blue Room’ [2019] [1080p] [2.00:1] [1:53]
‘CARMEN & LOLA’ [2018] [1080p] [1.85:1] [1:56]
Finally, ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ takes us on a road trip from Bari to Bavaria alongside two men brought together by fate. However, far from being melancholy, the result is a bright and engaging journey of self-discovery, healing and hope and one that filled me with optimism for the road ahead. Here, director Stelios Kammitsis reflects the power of a single spark or action in changing an individual’s destiny. Director Stelios Kammitsis delightful road trip movie is full of love, humour, healing and hope. ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ excels in creating a delicate bubble of belonging to both men. The world outside this bubble is fragile as Viktoras and Matthias find love, companionship and harmony together. And no matter where things may lead, ‘THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS’ proves that the roads we all choose occasionally entwine in creating a new beginning, love and an unexpected but vital connection. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
