Adoration

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.

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.

Every character is sympathetic, nobody is good or evil, instead showing everyone as a human being, no matter what our cultural differences are. The compelling performances(Bostick in particular) are slightly offset by an overuse of background music, in addition to the slightly non-linear structure taking some time to get used to. Despite the background music occasionally distracting from what's in front of you, Adoration is a compelling film, not just as a character study, but as an experience many will be familiar with.

People like me have come to expect thoughtful pieces of celluloid from filmmakers like Egoyan and he delivers once again, even with the film's minor technical flaws.

There is not much to say about this convoluted story. Its based on a real event. It relies on lots of talk and minimal action. Atom Egoyan had full control in making this film, from writing to direction. The main pluses are the performances of the principal three of the principal actors. The main negative is the questionable use of "technology", particularly of teenage chat rooms, of older people chat rooms, of video cell phones and so on - the focus of these internet & tech based products is to present talking heads by other means. There is also a violin, which is the one major non-tech focus of the story.

There is no doubt that this film has potential. It has the making of a compelling plot, given its built in twists, turns and periodic surprises. Could it have been presented in a more exciting and direct way? Maybe not given budget considerations, which are so obvious.

At an early point, the movie takes on that feeling of seeming to go on and on and on. But, there is an interesting, underlying story. And Egoyan is a skilled and always worthwhile filmmaker. So, one persists watching, with some judicious use of occasional fast forwarding of the DVD (particularly the seemingly endless, ridiculous multi-channel computer talkfests). The film has craft and is a serious endeavour. But in the end, it is boring. And boring is boring.

As with other films by Egoyan, this one starts with a lot of loose ends that are tied together as the film progresses. The writer/director is fond of moving back and forth in time and balancing multiple plot threads. While it is intriguing, there is a pretentious streak running through it that undermines the narrative. There are too many scenes of characters pontificating in chat rooms and too much focus on technological gadgets. His films don't always succeed, but Egoyan should be applauded for taking chances. There are good performances from Speedman, Bostick, and Egoyan's favorite actress (and wife), Khanjian.