Next of Kin

Perhaps true family ties are only possible with someone else's family; that's the premise behind writer/director Atom Egoyan's disarming feature debut. The film itself is admittedly slim, running only 72 minutes and resting on the most slender thread of a plot, in which the disenchanted only son of an alienated Anglo Saxon household 'adopts' an Armenian family by posing as their long-lost son, becoming so enriched by the experience he decides to make it a permanent arrangement. Nothing much else happens, but Egoyan fleshes out the skeletal framework with plenty of tender, funny observations, minimizing the video-age pretensions that would mark his subsequent features. In this slight, engaging fable the director exhibits all the earmarks of an embryonic talent taking his first, assured steps.

Atom Egoyan's first feature length film is highly unknown and even somewhat hard to find. It is really a great film though. It is about a young man who's having problems with his WASP family. While going to "video" therapy, he sees an Armenian couple who gave their son up for adoption. What follows is a remarkable film about searching for yourself and for the perfect family. Like most of Egoyan's films it is set in an unknown city and country, and he never says the family is Armenian but we learn from their culture they are. I like that fact because he lets the viewers make up their minds as to what country it is in and so forth.

I had never heard of Atom Egoyan, a Canadian-Armenian director, when I bought a box set of his films from the UK because they were on sale and sounded cool. It has been sitting on my shelf for at least a year. The other night, I cracked it open, put "Next of Kin" on and was blown away. "Next of Kin" is an astonishing first feature length film, both in script (which Egoyan wrote) and direction.

It is a story of a rich young man trying to find purpose in life, much like "The Graduate" and "Harold and Maude". He is 23, lived at home his whole life, and amused himself by "watching my parents dislike each other." They take him to therapy, he plays with them psychologically, but then by chance discovers an Armenian family who lost a son and proceeds to contact them and pretend to be their long lost boy.

It is wacky, it is funny, it is weird, it is thought provoking. It is an insightful look at culture and family and our willingness to accept anything when in psychological need. There is some plot structure and cinematography that is amazing. A remarkable first film that is almost unknown. Delighted to have it my collection. I can't wait to see the rest of the films in the set.

Atom Egoyan proves early on his talent as a story-teller in this 1984 Drama/Comedy about a man searching for an identity. The premise is a lot like that of The Graduate, a young man not sure where is future lies, although the way they go about it is completely opposite, the beginning definitely reminds me of "The Graduate"

Peter Foster is a 23 year old man still living with his controlling parents. With no ambition in his life, the Foster family visits a therapist, hoping that they can be helped. While viewing the video-recording of his therapy session, he puts in another tape of an Armenian family seeking therapy. It is revealed that this Armenian family had given up a son for adoption early on. Peter comes up with a plan where he will "pretend" (a theme which comes up often in the film) to be Bedros, the long lost son of this elderly couple. The story is told well, in the trademark Egoyan style. The film mixes comedy with drama, containing beautiful artistic elements that we can definitely associate with Atom Egoyan. The simple fact where there are no subtitles is interesting in itself, because Peter doesn't know what is being said, why should the audience? (Although this is only a few seconds here and there, it doesn't take away at all from the film) If you are a fan of Atom Egoyan I highly recommend seeing this film, enjoy!