| Atom Egoyan Tribute
http://www.myspace.com/americancinematheque
An Aero Theatre Exclusive!
Since his 1984 debut NEXT OF KIN, Canada-based
writer-director Atom Egoyan has been challenging and enlightening audiences with
his profound meditations on alienation and isolation in modern life. His early films,
including FAMILY VIEWING (1987), SPEAKING PARTS (1989) and THE ADJUSTER (1991),
established Egoyan as a fresh new voice in world cinema, and concerned themselves with the
ways in which bureaucracy and technology interfere with interpersonal contact. The size of
his audience increased with the hit EXOTICA in 1994, and three years later Egoyan won
international acclaim with his first adaptation, THE SWEET HEREAFTER. This
moving drama was based on a novel by Russell Banks, and it kicked off a series of
adaptations for Egoyan that included the somber character study FELICIA’S JOURNEY
(1999) and the erotic thriller WHERE THE TRUTH LIES (2005). In 2002, Egoyan dealt with his
Armenian heritage in the searing genocide drama ARARAT. His films are often told with
fractured, complicated timelines that emphasize the burden of the past and the disjointed
nature of contemporary existence. Join us for screenings of two of the
director’s early gems, along with a sneak preview of his new film ADORATION, complete
with an Egoyan Q&A!
Friday, April 24 – 7:30 PM
Sneak Preview! ADORATION, 2009, Sony Pictures Classics, 100 min. The latest
film written, produced and directed by Atom Egoyan speaks to our connections with
each other, with our family history, with technology and with the modern world. Sabine (Arsinée
Khanjian), a high school French teacher, gives her class a translation exercise based
on a real news story about a terrorist who plants a bomb in the airline luggage of his
pregnant girlfriend. The assignment has a profound effect on one student, Simon (Devon
Bostick), who lives with his uncle (Scott Speedman). In the course of
translating, Simon reimagines that the news item is his own family's story, with the
terrorist standing in for his father. Years ago, Simon's father (Noam Jenkins)
crashed the family car, killing both himself and his wife (Rachel Blanchard),
making Simon an orphan. Simon has always feared that the accident was intentional. Simon
reads his version to the class and then takes it to the internet, creating a false
identity that allows him to probe his family secret. As Simon uses his new persona to
journey deeper into his past, the public reaction is swift and strong. When an exotic
woman reveals her true identity, the truth about Simon's family emerges. The mystery is
solved and a new family is formed. Discussion
following with director Atom Egoyan and actors Scott Speedman
(Tom, the uncle) Devon Bostick
(Simon) Rachel Blanchard
(Rachel, the mother in the film). View
Saturday, April 25 – 7:30 PM
Atom Egoyan Double Feature:
THE SWEET HEREAFTER, 1997, Warner
Bros., 112 min. After a fatal school bus crash devastates a small town, an aggressive
attorney (Ian Holm) arrives to capitalize on the tragedy. As he tries to convince
the townspeople to sue whoever (if anyone) is responsible for the accident, the lawyer
deals with his troubled relationship with his drug-addicted daughter while his new
neighbors deal with secrets and agonies of their own. Atom Egoyan adopts a
fragmented, elliptical approach to Russell Banks' novel and creates a powerful ensemble
character study. Trailer
FAMILY VIEWING, 1987, Zeitgeist,
86 min. With David Hemblen, Aidan Tierney, Gabrielle Rose… Two years before SEX,
LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE, Atom Egoyan gave us this riveting exploration of video and its
relationship to sex and voyeurism. A young man who feels alienated from everyone around
him -- including his father and father’s mistress, who live together in a highrise
full of video equipment -- becomes involved with a young woman who works in the phone sex
industry. As the plot reveals itself, connections between the characters (like the fact
that the father uses phone sex as a tool in his lovemaking) emerge at the same time that
all the technology around them creates distancing effects. Haunting and unpredictable,
this is one of the best studies of voyeurism on film since PEEPING TOM. More
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