Convidado de Honra

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.

This story tells a complicated relationship between father and daughter. It is messed up, but it doesn't make me feel for the characters or the situation. I didn't find it engaging.

Bitterly disappointing. Up until Felicia's Journey Egoyan was at the very top of his craft. Dense, intelligent storytelling, with considerable technical mastery, prefect mis-en-scene. Until that movie, he seemed perfectly willing and able to move towards the mainstream with skill. With the partial exception of Adoration, it's been downhill since. Guest of Honour is poorly executed, appallingly written, shows no skill whatsoever. Indeed, the one or two nice shots seem accidental. One big problem is his use of actors. Back in the early days he used actors who seemed to give his admittedly clunky dialogue a sense of gravitas - Gabrielle Rose, David Hemblen, Elias Koteas, Maury Chakin (sp?)....the new batch, Luke Wilson, Colin Firth, Ryan Reynolds, a succession of attractive but poor female actresses, simply don't cut it......the sublime brilliance and control of The Adjuster, Calendar and Exotica, the beauty of The Sweet Hereafter.....it's all gone now

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.

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