Adults in the Room

Honestly I couldn't believe starting from the first scenes of the film that this was a Costas Gavras film. It screamed "quick and dirty" approach through out the entire movie. Bad direction, bad lighting and photography - almost amateur. It's really a pity that such an acclaimed creator made this work... Nice surprise from the Loulis in the role of Yannis Varoufakis, at least he was ok to watch.

This year I had the opportunity to attend Venice film Festival. One of the movies I saw there was Adults in the Room by Mr. Costa-Gavras. This movie is all about Greek politics and I'm from Greece too so I was excited to see how they were portrayed. The movie was excellent, it demonstrated the situation how it really was of course from Mr. Varoufakis book who was really an insider to the politics back then. All in all, the movie is worth watching especially for people who are into politics and don't pay attention to the bad reviews they are from Greek people with different political beliefs who also haven't seen the movie because it's not out yet. Thank you for reading.

As far as the real events, i watched what I was expecting even me not having read Varoufakis's book. So almost nothing special here, no surprise. So, despite the "outsider's" role of Varoufakis, expected some more "insider's" information.

I liked the performance of almost all characters. They are totally in line with the actual person's image to the public, in a dramatic and brutal realistic way together. I would say it is Gavras style with a bit of Nikos Perakis'...

I liked the photography. Lighting and colors are top notch in bright and dark scenes. Especially the darks in Varoufakis' house or the semi-lighted scene when Varoufakis speeks to british bankers. Composition and perspective are also excellent. However, there was some lens distortion in the wide internal shots that could have been avoided. DOPs have managed this decades ago shooting film, so no excuse have them shooting digital nowadays, except it was a choice not a compromise, however i can see no reason for this in those particular shots.

As far as the screenplay and editing. Did not like it very much as a whole. Nice cuts, fluid scenes, but many important events are a bit squeezed at the end. Like the editor suddenly realised that he aproached the movie's time limit and had to exclude takes, or the producers suddenly run out of money. Maybe that is how Varoufakis book ends? Do not know, but it is a movie not a book and I believe great Costas Gabras could have done better here. Final documentary titles also seem to try and fill this gap, with no success in my opinion.

Having read the book "Adults in the room" I was waiting much more from this film. My impression is that Gavras, trying to fit the book in a two hour movie has messed it up. In contrast to the book I couldn't see any evolution of characters but meetings meetings and more meetings (Eurogroup etc). Thé scenes failed to give the narration and the atmosphere that exist in the book. Moreover the film is messed up chronically. Someone who doesn't know the story cannot understand if the whole story occurs in a week or a month or more. The use of first names was really annoying. The Final scene is completely out of nowhere and is nonsense, coming from Greek musical from the 60's.

No in contrast to the book - which I consider as a must read - this film is a total mess. C'est dommage pour Gavras.

A clear view from within the eurogroup during the Greek drama. Gavras is bold and shows high tensions, clear colors of the circus we live in, luck of democracy, solid reasons for criticism of an amateur leftist government including Yianis and a great Lulis acting this role. The finale though is weak imo. A solid 6! - but we must revisit the film a few years later. Gavras takes the risk and makes the movie from his and Varoufakis point of view and gives a true atmosphere of the time. If you watch the film watch it trying to stay out fro m political parties and personal views. Discuss it later.