Olympia (II) (2018) User Reviews

a powerful woman role model

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 9 July 2020]

Greetings again from the darkness. She is now in the 7th decade of her acting career. She was married to one man for 55 years. She recently turned 89 and is still working regularly. Olympia Dukakis is a marvel to behold. Strong-minded, direct-speaking, charismatic, talented and long-lasting, she makes a fascinating subject for director Harry Mavromichalis in his first feature-length documentary.

An early segment features Ed Asner presenting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Soon after she admits that "it doesn't mean anything" to her, but her Academy Award did. She won the Best Supporting Actress for her role as Cher's mother in MOONSTRUCK (1987), and we later see her at the ceremony as her elderly mother is captured watching it unfold on TV. This moment matters because we have already heard Olympia discuss her challenging times growing up with her mother (she claims to have channeled her own mother for the role).

Much of this documentary was filmed years ago. We are there on her 80th birthday and her 49th wedding anniversary. Clips are included from some of her theater work, as well as movies. Playing a transgender character in PBS' "Tales of the City" (1993) made her a gay icon, and we see her as Grand Marshal of the Gay Pride parade in San Francisco. This is especially timely today given that Halle Berry just announced she was stepping down from a transgender role ... due to the pressure brought on by her not being transgender.

Olympia is very forthcoming in discussing her approach to life, and life itself. She discloses the initial doubts she had regarding a woman's place in Greek history, before bucking up and proclaiming "it's not me that's less." When she felt the theater world considered her "too ethnic", in 1973 she founded The Whole Theater in Montclair, New Jersey. She refused to let the world place limits on what she could do. She offers up many personal memories such as her time fencing at Boston University - stories that provide clear examples of her personality and makeup.

As I watched the film, my thought was that it meandered a bit too much. Upon reflection, it makes complete sense, as that's the manner in which she lives and works and thinks. We see clips as she converses with her cousin Michael Dukakis, the former Governor of Massachusetts, during his candidacy for President. The film bounces around with stops in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Cypress. Toronto was for a Norman Jewison retrospective (including MOONSTRUCK), and while in Cypress we walk the aisles of a grocery store with her (very weird).

Insight is offered from fellow actors such as Laura Linney, Austin Pendleton, Lainie Kazan, and Whoopi Goldberg, but it's really the bits and pieces we get regarding her long-term marriage to actor Louis Zorich that are most meaningful. The couple discuss why their marriage and partnership has worked, and how friendship is the key. Louis passed away in 2018, and Olympia continues to act and teach acting classes. We even get a peek behind the curtain when we watch her work through/find a character in rehearsal. Seemingly tacked on towards the end are clips from a trip to her mother's village in Greece with her daughter and grandkids. It's a chance to see her interact with local women, and does provide a stark contrast to what Olympia has done with her life. She claims that she can "remember plays and theaters"; however, "it's people" she doesn't remember. She can be certain that the people will remember her.

Fascinating Portrait of A Remarkable Woman

[jeanlevy · 8/10 · 22 September 2021]

Olympia showcases a year in the life of esteemed stage and screen actress, Olympia Dukakis, as she travels around the world for work. It's refreshingly candid and devoid of any glamour or phoniness that many of these documentaries have. Dukakis speaks freely about her upbringing, her failures, her successes, and her struggles to still find herself even at age 80 (and what a spry 80 she is).

If Olympia has any faults, there's the meandering pace which might force some audience members to check out, but if you're interested in the art of acting and what it means to be a working actor, an elderly working actor, or an elderly female working actor, it's a must watch.

An Amazing Woman...blazing trails even before we knew we needed them

[MovieLuver365 · 9/10 · 4 April 2024]

I always admired Ms. Dukakis, especially after her performance in Steel Magnolias. I was, however, unaware of the depth and breadth of her tireless, expansive career until now.

Independent, "unsinkable", generous and devoted to her craft in every way, she and her partner/husband, Louis Zorich, who seemed to be the "wind beneath" her wings, created a lfe full of art and cooperation with other artists, which subtly changed the way we think about older women, and women in general.

I learned about the book, "When God Was A Woman", from this documentary and ordered the book because of it. I think strong women, such as Olympia Dukakis, remember this time, somewhere deep in their souls, and see the need in the world for their contributions. They are driven and can literally stop at nothing to bring those gifts to the world. It may seem odd, make her seem emotionally imbalanced, because she was crying after meeting the women in Greece. But I think she was crying because she was always looking for a kindred spirit. She thought she may find them there, in the place where at one time, "God was a woman". Instead she found these women, who are completely happy and contentented sitting on a bench every day in beautiful Greece. Perhaps she feels all of her efforts have been unnecessary? She may be asking herself, "Why have I fought so hard when all I had to do was nothing, and I would be sitting on a bench every day with my friends in beautiful Greece?" And the final blow? Even they only knew of, and acknowledged, her brother's run for the US presidency.

The sad reality, I think, is that there just aren't that many women today with the means, opportunity and support to realize their own power and convey their gifts to the world.

Hopefully, as we share the stories of those who have and do, we will find the way for more of us to help the world.

Thank you, Ms. Dukakis, for sharing yours.

A must see

[vcpttzc · 10/10 · 26 April 2021]

An amazing documentary about one of America's preeminent film and stage actresses. An insightful, poignant and a deeply moving film that paints a portrait of a woman's struggle with identity and overcoming the cultural narrative of limitations. Don't let this one slip by.