Morning Patrol (Πρωϊνή Περίπολος) Greece, 1987 - Nikos Nikolaidis

[moviemaker]

This thread is dedicated to the little-known Greek gem Morning Patrol (Πρωϊνή Περίπολος) by an equally underrated director, Nikos Nikolaidis, in the hopes that more people will discover this work and others.

Synopsis: A woman travels alone through a destroyed and abandoned city. She wants to pass the Forbidden Zone and get to the Sea… Deceptive traps lurk everywhere. The Morning Patrol is guarding, and they are on her trail.

Inspired by the writings of:
Philip K. Dick, Daphne du Maurier, Raymond Chandler, Herman Raucher

Description:
A woman travels alone, through a destroyed and abandoned city. She wants to pass the Forbiden Zone and get to the Sea… Deceptive traps lurk everywhere. The Morning Patrol is guarding and they are on her trail.

Electronic voices warn the nonexistent citizens to desert the city. The communications system is working, theaters are projecting films, and familiar faces of older times fill the television screens…

She is approached by one of the few survivors. Yet he is one of the men who guard this city now. He will help her to get where she wants. That place from where no one has ever returned, to claim that exists. “The Sea”…

Having a fractured memory in common, they will come close to one another. Together, they will try to recall the past and make some sense out this catastrophe.

A story of love in an unbearable world, surrounded by violence and death… What point can it have?

[moviemaker]

It is only available on YouTube (per the director's Estate—his son) and as an HD download for only 10 Euros, which I recommend to support the artist:
https://nikosnikolaidis.com/product/morning-patrol-hd/

More info on Morning Patrol from the director's dedicated page on the film: https://nikosnikolaidis.com/morning-patrol/

And here is the film on YouTube (which is not the same experience as seeing it in a theater or watching a high-quality physical release at home):

Î*ΡΩΙÎ�Η Î*ΕΡΙÎ*ΟΛΟΣ (Morning Patrol) BY NIKOS NIKOLAIDIS IN HD - ENG SUBS - YouTube

My hope is that a boutique outfit like RADIANCE would see fit to release a physical copy of this film. Unfortunately, being widely available on YouTube makes that unlikely, as I'm sure it would cut into any sales.

[moviemaker]

An excellent essay on the film posted on Reddit that I found: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/co...ikolaidis_the/

And another great in-depth write-up on Morning Patrol as part of a trilogy here: https://ultradogme.com/2023/03/22/nikolaidis/

And more insightful reviews of Morning Patrol on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/morning-patrol/

And a trailer for Morning Patrol on the MUBI site: https://letterboxd.com/film/morning-patrol/