Papadopoulos & Sons
Directed by Marcus Markou, Papadopoulos & Sons is an independent, British comedy-drama film released in 2008. It was made with the director's own private company for independent films ('Double M Films'), that he set up with his brother, Andrew Markou.
Plot Summary: Harry Papadopoulos, a millionaire entrepreneur struggling in the recent financial crisis goes bankrupt, and re-unites with his passionate brother to restore an abandoned fish & chips shop from their childhood while trying to get his life back.
Plot Summary: Harry Papadopoulos, a millionaire entrepreneur struggling in the recent financial crisis goes bankrupt, and re-unites with his passionate brother to restore an abandoned fish & chips shop from their childhood while trying to get his life back.
As a small film, Papadopoulos & Sons could not get a huge global distribution deal like in Hollywood but managed to score a small deal with Cineworld who did not expect much turnover and success from the film. Cineworld initially agreed to distribute the film for one week only in a limited number of screens across the UK, but due to unprecedented audience demand, extended the run while expanding to more venues. On June 27, 2013, the film was released in 70 cinemas in Germany under the name Papadopoulos & Söhne and achieved the impressive tally of 23 850 admissions during the first weekend. Marcus Markou brought the film to several festivals across the world, where it was received well, in particular gaining support from the Dinard British Film Festival (France), the Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA), the Seattle Film Festival and the Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece) where it received the Michael Cacoyannis Audience Award. It was also screened at the European Parliament in November 2012.
Some of the main cast:
Stephen Dillane - Harry Papadopoulos
Frank Dillane - James Papadopoulos
Georgia Groome - Katie Papadopoulos
Thomas Underhill - Theo Papadopoulos
Georges Corraface - Uncle Spiros
Ed Stoppard - Rob
Cosima Shaw - Sophie
Selina Cadell - Mrs Parrington
George Savvides - Hassan Ali
Cesare Taurasi - Mehmet Ali
Alexander Hanson - Lars
Director Marcus Markou also starred in the film briefly, acting cameo as a news reporter for the BBC talking about the financial crisis.
"Papadopoulos & Sons is a family-oriented film. It has been inspired by Marcus Markou's own family history and cultural roots, which fuelled his desire to focus on family unity: "I came from a very tight knit Greek-Cypriot family", said the director. "However, as we grew older and grew up, my family, like so many other families, broke apart. I also lost so many of my Hellenic roots. In making the film I reached out to that sense of family that had been lost and I reached out to my Hellenic roots. [The film] is not about being Greek or Cypriot at all. I use that as backdrop. It really is about family unity at a difficult time".
The film was shot in the London area. The crew found a street with two empty shops in Morden, South London, and took the lease on them. One became the chip shop The Three Brothers, the other one the rival kebab shop. The city scenes were filmed in Central London, the mansion scenes in Croydon. Finally, the Papadopoulos factory was set in a real Greek food factory in East London." (taken from wikipedia.org)
Despite many critics stating its predictability, the film was fairly well critically received, being praised for its 'feel good' factor and sweet, funny elements.
Rotten Tomatoes rating - 82%
IMDb rating - 6.9/10
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