Stelios follows Legendary Greek singer Stelios Kazantzakis, a Pontic refugee child who overcame challenges through talent and resilience.

To be frank, the film is most reminiscent of something like Reagan, which I reviewed last year. It is covering a man who reached towards riches and fame that any artist would dream of.  Surely, anyone who is working on this film would aspire to the kind of fame that Stelios is shown to claim. Yet, one weakness of the film is that conflict of fame is not as apparent. The other part is that the amount of wealth put behind this film cannot really do justice to the story. The budget is modest and, with such a long life to cover, it does feel it is stretched thin. The production design is kept simple considering its efforts to jump through time and to show different parts of the country of Greece. However, the good part of that is that we get a grounded perspective on Stelios’ humble upbringing. We see him stick by his principles, even as he is offered easy wealth and opportunities that he should not turn down but does because he does not believe in who he works for.

The film would feel more appropriate as a more modest play that could’ve made this story more interesting cinematically. Had it taken this approach, it could have done things like long takes or a few impressive locations that could help separate it from the modest biopics coming out of America. Even if the biopic genre is overrun worldwide (and especially in America), there is room to play with it. This film does often refuse to play ball, sacrificing creativity for the sake of a vast but ultimately repetitive story. At 2 hours and 13 minutes, a more central focus on one part of his life was sorely needed as it is needed in the majority of biopics. This remains as it is presented a low budget ‘womb to tomb’ film. As a result, it feels like Stelios invites comparison to the American musician biopics that trump this film as far as scale and spectacle.

The music itself is very honest and well done. Bringing in the emotion of commenting on the hard work and struggles that Stelios went through, it makes the film operatic and creates the most unique and easy thing to talk about in this film. The songs, which are honest works from Stelios, comment on his honest work that we see in the film. He lives by what he sings and the ideas he put out are ones that he imparts on other people through his actions.

The performances are a strong part of this film overall. The lead, with a hefty amount of screen time, and different versions of the same man to play embodies all of them very well. His emotions and immersion in the character and his music is very impressive. The supporting cast also does a great job with strong scene chemistry between Stelios, especially his mother and his first partner in romance and music.

This film also does an honest job revealing Stelios’s flaws. His love for women puts him in a awkward place at multiple points, he becomes a father young while still in the army and still under his mother’s roof.  The film manages a level of depth because of this but it does reveal some of the film’s pacing problems.

The editing of the film is quite quick. Within the first half an hour, we go from a longer scene of his family being separated by anti-communist soldiers to him on a boat in his older age, as he speeds through his life from starting as a musician to getting into his first adult relationships. Within 5 minutes, he has a child who he quickly explains that the kid was never born to a man who inquires about his life in his old age. This scene between an older Stelios and another young man is constantly plagued by the same actor being young Stelios and there being a lack of makeup on him. The story moves very quickly but then does halt quite quickly. The scenes themselves though never have an element that makes them stand out. No obstacle that makes them thrilling or sense of humor that makes you laugh. Too many scenes leave you without much to chew on.

Stelios is in theatres now.