Adoration

When I saw The Sweet Hereafter years ago, I thought Atom Egoyan was one of the greatest directors alive, and the subsequent films haven't really shaken that belief. If Adoration is not up to the standard of his best work, it is still well worth seeing. The story is one of terrible loss and forgiveness, and the acting is superb. We are connecting the dots--from racist grandfather to despairing mother to an orphan teenager (played by the excellent Devon Bostick) with big issues around truth and responsibility. The boy's uncle has a lot of issues himself; we can see that being a tow-truck driver is gnawing at his soul (made me think of Repo Man). Scott Speedman as the uncle is really good, he's hiding behind a beard, giving curt responses to Arsinée Khanjian's questions.

A problem: lots of use of internet chat rooms to flesh out the story; disembodied, undramatic characters for Simon to interact with (watch for the great Maury Chaykin to heat things up somewhat). Technology is not a launching pad for art, it's just information retrieval or anger management.

Atom Egoyan's Adoration weaves a complex tale of a young man searching for the truth about his family by perpetuating a lie in order to witness its consequences. Simon (Devon Bostick), a young high school student, tells his class that his Lebanese father Sami (Noam Jenkins) was a terrorist who attempted to blow up a plane with a bomb carried by his pregnant wife, Rachel (Rachel Blanchard), a talented violinist. In his presentation to the class, Simon says that he is the unborn child, his mother was the innocent being led to her demise, and his father was the killer out to murder 400 innocent people to promote a cause. The only problem with the story is that it is not true. The incident never happened. The film exposes the ease with which people are willing to accept what they are told without question and how modern technology has become a useful tool for those eager to disseminate falsehood.

According to the director, the film is "about people dealing with absences. He (Simon) imagines having a father who is a demon; he wants to go as far as possible into what that might mean." Adoration begins with an indelible image – a young woman standing at the end of a pier overlooking a river playing the violin while her husband and young son watch in awe. Moving forward and backward in time with great ease, the film slowly constructs the events which have led to Simon's school confessional. The key player is Simon's French teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) whose own family was killed in Lebanon by a terrorist attack. Sabine reads an article to the class about an incident that occurred in 1986 in which a Jordanian man, Nezar Hindawi, sent his pregnant Irish girlfriend on an El Al flight with a bomb in her handbag, of which she had no knowledge until it was discovered by Israeli airport security.

Heavily influenced by his bigoted grandfather Morris (Kenneth Walsh) to believe that his father intentionally caused his mother's death in a car crash, the vulnerable Simon constructs a parallel between the article read by his French teacher and the death of his parents. On his own, Simon posts his fake story on the Internet and has to deal with emotional responses from holocaust victims, holocaust deniers, students, and professors talking about terrorism, martyrdom, and heroism. It is a discussion that often sinks to the level of victimization as portrayed by veteran actor Maury Chaykin who blames the bogus airplane incident for "ruining" his life. Simon's uncle, Tom (Scott Speedman), who raised the boy after his parents' death, acts as a mediator between his nephew and the teacher who encourages Simon to tell his fake story in the school auditorium.

Tom is a tow truck operator with a short fuse who harbors a deep resentment against his father for the way he was treated as a child and his encounters with Sabine contain some of the film's most intense moments. Aided by a tenderly evocative violin-prominent soundtrack by Mychael Danna, Adoration is an intelligent and imaginative study of family conflict and reconciliation that serves as a compelling probe into human behavior and the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction. Though it contains a great deal of ambiguity and character motivations tend to be somewhat mystifying, Adoration is a very involving film with performances that are uniformly excellent, particularly Arsinee Khanjian as the emotionally-damaged teacher and Speedman and Bostock who provide enough tension to keep us riveted throughout.

Atom Egoyan's latest feat, "Adoration", features among Egoyan's most profound work, and it is also one of the best independent or underground films you can rent this year. Now, you might be wondering how I can call a film by Atom Egoyan 'underground', when he's one of the most renowned directors in the world. It's precisely the same question I asked a fellow critic of mine who recommended it, and now that I've seen it, I have the answer: It features a large cast of 'unknowns' (with the possible exception of Scott Speedman), a large crew of unknowns, it features a small budget, it's artsy...but most of all, it aspires and tries to be overwhelming at its impact and appealing to the masses, and it fails to be either at the end. Not even the seal of recognition from the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 saved this film from being on a short release during the winter of 2009 and from finally emerging on DVD, at the end of the same year.

But please, bear with me. The film deals with a teenager called Simon (Devon Bostick) who's written a fictional monologue where his father left his pregnant mother on a plane and hid a bomb on her carry-on bag, which is discovered by the authorities and which foils his plans of terrorism. Prompted by Sabine, his French teacher (Arsinée Khanjian), he makes his classmates believe the story is true, and publishes it on an Internet chat room which makes thousands of bloggers go crazy on the subjects of terrorism, victims, love, recognition, the value of life, etc...all of that, prompted by his story. Simon is scared to find out how much of his fictional story is true, since for some reason it has a familiar ring with some images of his past. So he decides to make a video diary where he films the bloggers who heatedly comment on his story, and who provide him with the necessary 'mind fuel' to deduct whether his father actually WAS an assassin, whether his mother was his victim, whether his grandfather (Kenneth Welsh) polluted their memory and whether his uncle (Scott Speedman) is hiding something.

I know, it sounds like a complicated storyline...and it is. There are infinite separate plots (each character has ulterior motives, an agenda, and a haunting past which establishes their present personalities), and the film is given to us in puzzle pieces, with the separate scenes jumping from present, to future to past...to imaginary present, future and past...all of this to a point where you won't understand a thing you see on screen if you're not fully concentrated. I was, thankfully, and I found it easy to keep up with so many plot lines, and as the film progressed and I discovered more details and secrets every second, I felt my heart pounding and my palms sweating from the tension and the heavy drama on screen. THAT'S where the film is genius; on the way it uses an intelligent and complicated plot perfectly, and on how it reaches over to the audience.

The film IS good, it is very very good, actually, but it tries to exceed its own potential, giving way to a large amount of unfinished plot twists, undeveloped characters and confusing situations. Stories begin to fit in together, resolutions are being taken, and by the end of the film the principal characters have all found catharsis in their own way...but what about the infinite number of other characters the film presents? They're all left behind, with no completion whatsoever. SO many topics that were effectively handled and most of them weren't developed! The main characters (Simon, the French teacher, the uncle, the grandfather and the parents) have incredible depth, and halfway through the film you're convinced that this might just be THE deepest and most intelligent film of the decade...but soon after that, the film is over and only the superficial plot lines where resolved, only the surface of the characters came full circle. It's one of those movies where the credits start rolling and you say "It's over?! But what about the...", then you start making so any questions, and you start coming up with so many answers, all of them giving birth to more questions...until you have no idea what you're even coming up with.

Perhaps this was Egoyan's point, to keep us thinking and thinking until our thoughts seem to have detached from the film itself; it's a good thing to do- to have your public ponder so much- but it's bad when it affects the movie. Like I said, it tries to overreach, it goes literally everywhere with so much plot that OBVIOUSLY there are going to be mistakes and plot lines will be left unsolved. But even through these flaws, the film delivers interesting messages, it gives us a couple of memorable characters and a story (however complicated it may be) that entertains and envelops the viewer. And even if the balance of the film slowly shattered at the end, for most of the duration it was maintained, giving the viewer a very rewarding hour and forty minutes of viewing experience.

If you love artsy, independent films- see it. If you're tired of mainstream Hollywood brainless flicks and want something new- see it. If you love Atom Egoyan or are planning to introduce him into your cinema knowledge- see it. If you're expecting to see a paramount in independent cinema that transcends our expectations on the seventh art- skip it. This is very good, but not great. Nevertheless, I still recommend it.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4!

"Adoration" is, at its heart, a coming-of-age story. It's about that time of self-discovery when the question "who am I?" becomes an obsession. But what makes this film so startlingly refreshing is that it also has a classic structure rarely seen in contemporary cinema. The viewer is never quite sure whether or not the images on screen are real or imagined. Think of a chess game where each move prompts you to replay the entire game in your head. Such is the experience of watching "Adoration," brilliantly conceived and executed by writer/director/co-producer Atom Egoyan.

Egoyan is a legend in his adopted country of Canada with dozens of awards and nominations to his credit (1997's "The Sweet Hereafter" earned him Oscar noms for writing and directing). The mere mention of his name widens the eyes of citizens north of the border, as I learned here at the Toronto International Film Festival, where I attended the film's North American Premiere (it debuted at Cannes, where it was nominated for the prestigious Palm D'Or). Locals hold him to a very high standard. For me, I prefer going in cold, knowing as little as possible about a film. Similarly, I won't reveal much about the story here.

After losing his parents under questionable circumstances, Simon (Devon Bostick) is reluctantly being raised by his Uncle Tom (Scott Speedman). Simon's memories of his mother Rachel (Rachel Blanchard), an accomplished violinist, and father Sami (Noam Jenkins) are shrouded in mystery. Enter Simon's teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian), who might be able to help Simon unlock the secrets that are the key to his youthful confusion. What follows is a brain teaser which takes great concentration. The wheels are always turning, and the viewer is constantly challenged to figure out exactly what is real or perceived, and by whom.

The look of the film enhances the mystery inherent in the story. The use of single-point lighting allows shadows to fall upon already-obscure settings. Music is essential to the plot and, as such, Rachel's violin virtuosity is extended to a string soundtrack that is as haunting as the film itself. Paul Sarossy's cinematography is cleverly integrated with composer Mychael Danna's soundtrack, with tracking shots set to music as a visual ballet. Editor Susan Shipton had a tall order working with Egoyan to craft a virtual puzzle in which nothing is at it seems.

Speedman ably plays the father figure who isn't quite ready to take on the task of raising a teen but does so out of loyalty to his late sister. Khanjian's Sabine is simply chilling and central to the power of the film. Blanchard is a joy to watch -- simply an angel on screen (and shot that way, to boot) -- and Jenkins successfully remains an enigmatic personality throughout. But, most of all, this is Bostick's film to carry on his young shoulders. Appearing in almost every scene, it's his curiosity and angst which drive "Adoration," and it's our empathy for him (weren't we all Simon once?) that gives the film its heart and soul. Bostick is one of Canada's most prolific young actors (he co-starred in Citizen Duane, one of my Top Picks from the 2006 festival) and will hopefully be introduced to a wider audience if this film gets the distribution it deserves.

The moment the credits began to roll I wanted to see "Adoration" again. If there were back-to-back screenings I would have remained in my seat. This is the first film in recent memory which has had that effect on me. There's nothing more exciting and intriguing than a film that plays with space and time, where perception matters more than anything else. What we see on screen vs. what is in our heads -- the spaces we fill with our own thoughts -- are artfully juggled by Egoyan and the result is simply a masterpiece.

Atom Egoyan is a very skilled filmmaker that is exploiting a stereotype of the older white person's racism against a Lebanese son in law. Old white people are easy to pick on, Hollywood routinely allows this because there is little criticism generated from it. Does that mean this is right? I don't think so.

The film implies that a group of people (older white people) are "monsters." Maybe Atom has experienced racism from white people because of his Egyptian father, I get the feeling that he hates me for being white and 54 years old. I give Atom a 10 for the skill in making this film, he gets a 0 for the subject.