AllMovie

Eleni is an absorbing drama directed with a coolly detached, mournful tone by director Peter Yates that renders the true-life story less emotionally affecting than it should be. As a New York Times reporter investigating the long-ago execution of his mother, John Malkovich is a monument to wounded stoicism, his inner demons seeming to eat him alive, his eyes pools of quiet agony. It's a riveting performance from a gifted actor, but the rest of the proceedings never really quite get into the same passionate groove. Kate Nelligan gives a terrific performance as the self-sacrificing Greek mother forced to make some painful choices, but Eleni doesn't effectively communicate the rage and shame that viewers should be vicariously experiencing. In the film's best scene, Nick (Malkovich) confronts his mother's murderer and finds only a lower middle-class dullard who seems harmless as a fly. As Nick simmers with unspoken fury, considering a retaliatory slaying, his surroundings couldn't possibly be more placid or boring. It's a remarkable high point of exquisite tension that Yates doesn't manage to repeat often enough to make his film the fervent, cathartic experience it wants to be.