Venice Film Festival 2019: ADULTS IN THE ROOM

It is a big task for any form of politics to take shape in the arts and push through the boundary of not tormenting the people, and instead, achieving to entertain them. Brexit, Trump, and the European Union are just a few topics that people are burned out and frustrated with.

Here lies the biggest battle of Costa-Gavras‘ political dramedy Adults in the Room. A two-hour feature that details the political fallout of Greece and their limited lifelines to avoid a two-hundred billion dollar debt that would not only destroy the country but the lives of every Greek citizen for the next one hundred years. Is it a little too close to home, or will audiences find resolution in the trauma of the past, and look to the future with positivity? The end product is a little bit of both.

Will Not Work for a Casual Audience

Gavras‘ film simply will not work for a casual audience. It is not open enough, funny enough, or entertaining enough to captivate a casual audience. That said, any fans of Armando Iannucci’s work, or in fact fans of political dramas, will be enticed by this, partly due to the films rather canny approach to real-life replications of situations, including characters for that matter, and the delving into one of the biggest most perplexing political campaigns in the last decade.

The level of detail is going to be hit or miss for some. On the one hand, one can appreciate the specifications and accuracy built to attain realism. But on the other, it does slowly devolve into a game of guess who, with only UK prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel missing. It is an interesting gimmick for what it is but does indeed work to craft an engaging feature, due to the performances behind these well known, or not so well known characters.

Lead actor Christos Loulis as Yanis is a storm here. He’s charismatic, engaging and makes a compelling case for the audience to be fully involved and invested. The screenplay from writer-Director Costa-Gavras (which is wonderfully slick and well-paced) implements an internal narration from Christos Loulis’ character Yanis throughout, which helps flesh out the character  for more emotional prowess while also exploring and furthering the narrative.

The Characters Here are all Mostly Expendable

Only Christos Loulis‘ character has any form of development or intrigue to it. The supporting cast has very little to do here. However, this aspect of production is undoubtedly purposely crafted to minimalise the unimportant and maximise the integral of the political turmoil itself. Director Costa-Gavras understands the characters here are all mostly expendable, ultimately putting the full focus and commitment on the always developing, layered and evolving circumstance of Greek’s bankruptcy.

The biggest and most easily identifiable issue of Adults in the Room is the poor balance of tone. The trailer crafts an image of a hard-hitting political drama, yet lately advertising has veered to presenting the film as a semi-comedic venture. Bizarre when the final product is devoid of both political drama or comedy. There are small instances of humour but in no manner is this a comedy, especially when it covers one of the biggest political tragedies to happen to people in recent times. The viewer is put through a minefield of whether to laugh or cry, a difficult watch for the audience, but no doubt a perfect metaphor for the political atmosphere at the moment.

Adults in the Room: Conclusion

Adults In The Room is a hard sell. For what is essentially two and a half hours of constant political farce, granted while making a strong impression, it does not succeed in the level of intrigue with a compelling fully inclusive narrative for all. Adding fuel to the fire is a tone that is somewhat indecisive and blurry with a cast list longer that the debt Greece owes and none of them given enough material to craft captivating performances.

Will you be heading out to listen and watch even more political conundrums? Let us know in the comments below!

Adults in the Room will be released in its home country of Greece on September, 29th 2019. With international dates worldwide yet to be released and confirmed.