Papadopoulos & Sons

Papadopoulos and sons

I think some of the reviews on here are unnecessarily harsh towards what is nothing more than a gentle family movie about a family surviving after a fall from grace, and suffering some hard times.

The father was forced to understand the important things in life and appreciate all the unmonetised elements that may life joyful and give it meaning.

Yes there was some clunky moments, yes some of the acting by Steven Dillane was a little wooden but this is what he chose for the role and I agree Spiro was a very annoying brother. But overall I really enjoyed the journey and there were some very touching moments.

I'm giving this. Firm 7 outta 10.

Greetings again from the darkness. There is always a risk in stamping a movie with a particular label ... "Greek" in this case. It can limit the audience to which it appeals, if there are too many in-jokes or cultural references. Writer/director Marcus Markou offers up a terrific little story that most can enjoy. It's certainly not at the level of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", but it's charming and entertaining enough.

Stephen Dillane stars as Harry, a self-made millionaire who loses everything during a financial market collapse. You will recognize Mr. Dillane as Thomas Jefferson from the HBO mini-series "John Adams". Here he plays a single dad to 3 kids: a stuttering plant loving son, a pop star-wannabe teenager daughter, and nerdy young son with a penchant for picking stock trends. Joining them is screen veteran Selina Cadell as the housekeeper/nanny. The crisis sends the family back into the life of Harry's brother Spiros, and they proceed to re-build the old family business ... Three Brother Fish & Chips.

Sure, it's a formulaic story, but the characters are interesting enough and Uncle Spiros is so full of life and spirit that he can't help but get you excited for this second chance. Watching the family re-connect with each other and their past is not just pleasant, but also well presented. Mr. Dillane is wonderful as the uppity millionaire type, however, when he gives his hospital soliloquy regarding never feeling "so alive", I do wish we had actually seen more proof of that.

While I most enjoyed the interactions between Harry and Spiros, the two musical/photo medleys seemed to interfere with the flow ... rather than shortcuts, they proved a bit annoying. However, it's always refreshing to see a movie where a family bonds together, and puts the past where it belongs.

Utterly dire, the worst type of contemporary British film - was this Lottery-funded, I wonder? Allegedly a comedy drama it is neither funny nor dramatic - the sort of piece they used to call 'heart-warming' for want of anything else positive to say.

Dillane is catastrophically miscast - about as Greek as an Asda moussaka. Not the most inspiring screen actor at the best of times, for the first half he stands around looking stunned-to-blankly moody, saying little and little apparently going on inside either. But that's better than when he does finally start saying something - so bland he seems to have suffered a stroke. The script, the direction, the editing unutterably clichéd, unimaginative, predictable and SLOOOOOW - and I *love* slow when the slowness lets you watch interesting things going on. No such luck here.

The most unbelievable brothers since Schwarzenegger and DeVito in 1988 - but this time it's not meant to be a joke. And finally the traditional British film failing: some really embarrassing supporting turns which should have been ruthlessly excised - the guy playing Lars, the Scandinavian money man, gets my award for the worst foreign accent of the decade...nearer German, if anything, but like one in a bad war film of the 1950s. The only Greekness I detected anywhere was in the music, but even that relentlessly trying to tell us what we should be feeling and when (the script and action having failed to do so) - sad, hopeful, joyful, sad again (and again and again)...and finally triumphant and (you've guessed it) heart-warming.

At one point a character (Dillane? I forget) says, "This doesn't feel right" - the most truthful line in the movie, I'm afraid.

"Papadopoulos & Sons" is a Comedy - Drama movie in which we watch a self-made millionaire losing everything in the latest banking crisis. Since he doesn't have another option he re-unites with his brother who is very different than him and they come up with the idea to re-open their abandoned fish and chip shop from where all started.

I liked this movie because it has a well-written script, an interesting plot with some very important plot twists and very good interpretations by its cast. The direction which was made by Marcus Markou who is also the writer, it was very good and he did a great job on it. I enjoyed the way he presented the stories of the brothers without giving so much information in the beginning but as the story continued he presented more. Regarding the interpretations, I have to admit that I enjoyed very much the interpretations of Stephen Dillane who played as Harry Papadopoulos and Georges Corraface who played as Spiros Papadopoulos. Some other interpretations that have to be mentioned were Cosima Shaw's who played as Sophie, Frank Dillane who played as James Papadopoulos and Thomas Underhill's who played as Theo Papadopoulos.

Finally, I have to say that "Papadopoulos & Sons" is a nice comedy movie which combines very well comedy with drama and has an interesting plot. I recommend everyone to watch this movie because I am sure that you are going to laugh a lot and you will have a great time watching it.

I started following Marcus Markou on Twitter when he was getting ready to film Papadopoulos and Sons and was going to be tweeting about it along the way. As an aspiring filmmaker, I thought this would be an interesting feed to follow. And indeed it was. Here we are one year and a couple months later and Marcus has taken the film to a few film festivals, screened it a couple times in London and lord knows what else. Since I don't live in a city where any of these screenings were, Marcus sent me a screener copy of the film. And these are my thoughts on it.

In a word, I LOVED it!

I had a feeling from the trailers and teasers that Marcus released, that I would like Uncle Spiros and I absolutely adored him. I've checked out George Corraface's IMDb page and I've not seen a single thing he was in, so he was "all new" to me and he was wonderful (the character as well as the actor).

My friend and I noted how much we liked Marcus' script as well. He's a great writer. Nothing ever felt awkward or forced. Very fluid and coherent dialogue throughout. And VERY funny! We had some good laughs, at the dialogue as well as some of the reactions or expressions pulled by some of the actors.

Marcus was very lucky to get a cast of some superb actors. It was about 50/50 on actors I was familiar with, and (most of) those who I wasn't familiar with did a great job. Ed Stoppard was campy and funny. Georgia Groome was snarky and fabulous. Thomas Underhill was a RIOT. And Stephen Dillane.... seriously... seeing him in a comedic role (as well as a couple of VERY moving scenes), just solidifies how multifaceted he really is.

The one that I was most impressed by (which, really, shouldn't shock me at all, given who his dad is), was Frank Dillane (who I'd never seen before). His character was so sweet and charming, and he never missed a beat. More than delivering the lines... he succeeded in delivering the feeling. Just really, really well done, Frank! I hope he's continuing on this track, because that kid definitely has the gene.

I can see why Papadopoulos and Sons won the Audience Choice Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece. Everyone should be very proud of that. It really is a delightful film. It's honest and beautiful. It's a story everyone should see.