Guest of Honour

When Thewlis is on, he's on siphens the entire world into his feelings. He is a true great. He manages to evoke so much. In this way it is an odd cousin to Naked, or a kind of encore. It does not reach those heights--how could it--but there is an unusual power when he worked with an auteur, that has an analytic intensity in common with his Leigh film. He is the reason the film is good. Any time it cuts away, I lose interest. Egoyan, as a fan of his great 90s works, I think digital cinematography takes the mystery and intensity out, and they could have found a whole other angle to plot this. But that 90s work was SO good, I will give Egoyan a pass wherever he goes. Also his wife never ages. She is his lucky charm because she just takes his worlds into another universe every single time.

Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira) tells stories of her deceased father Jim (David Thewlis) with Father Greg (Luke Wilson) who is planning his funeral. Jim was a health inspector who exercised his fearsome powers on small restaurant operators. Veronica is a music teacher leading her students on a performance tour. Student Clive and bus driver Mike both take a liking to her but she rebuffs them both.

Filmmaker Atom Egoyan delivers his usual interior personality story. I am willing to buy that this is a troubled father daughter pairing but I'm not sure if I buy this sort of crazy. I don't know why the kids would not tell the truth to the police. Even if Clive is willing to lie, I don't see why his friend would. Like Clive says, he is forced to attend some annoying sessions. I would tell the truth just to avoid that. As for Thewlis, this is an interesting performance. I am much more interested in his work than the complicated story of self-destruction. The disjointed flashback structure is not clear enough and it doesn't have enough space to give the story room to explain itself. The music performance road trip is clear enough but the story with Walter needs work. I may even just cut out Walter all together to clarify the plot. All in all, there is some interesting material with some troublesome issues.

It is worth watching! One of my top five favorite movies by Atom Egoyan!

All of the acting was superb but if the Academy Awards actually paid attention to independent films, David Thewlis would get a nomination. I knew he was a good actor but this performance is really outstanding. Also a very clever and surprising film all round. One of Egoyan's best.

I keep waiting for the day that Canadian films will find their voice. Seeing the wonderful David Thewlis in the lead role of Guest of Honour, I hoped for something terrific. I wasn't disappointed there. Thewlis is note-perfect as a mysterious and tortured man...a food inspector in Hamilton, Ontario of all things. I could watch Thewlis read the phone book, but when all is said and done, a compelling personality (and genuinely excellent cinematography), don't make for the lack of a coherent narrative. I still don't know exactly who did what to whom and why. The supporting cast is so-so. I could inhale the atmosphere and personality of this film...I just couldn't find the story.