Adoration

Adoration is the the eleventh film from auteur Atom Egoyan, another filmmaker whose work I adore. I should confess that I've seen more clips from his movies then having actually seen the movies as a whole, but of this eleven I've at least fully seen two (The Sweet Hereafter which I highly recommend, and Where The Truth Lies which is also pretty good). To sum Mr. Egoyan up, his films often explore alienation and isolation with characters that are somehow related to/controlled by some sort of system of bureaucracy. Often his films are non-linear with scenes or moments being revealed at later times to elicit a very strong emotional response. I'm more aware of Egoyan's talents then having experienced them but I've heard that not all of his films have achieved high critical acclaim, with several getting mixed responses. Adoration is a film that I feel quite mixed about. The story is very complex and only intensifies as time goes on but in short, for a school project, a boy stands up in class and tells the story about how his terrorist dad attempted to blow up a plane that just so happened to have his mom on board. From that concept things get very hectic. A car crash from the boy's past is revealed while his story from class becomes an internet sensation bringing up much debate. My problem with the film is that the tone is one gloominess and Egoyan's erratic pacing is far too complicated for this type of a tale, in other words, Egoyan's style steps over the substance and I feel as if this story is being forced to us by jumping around between the principal players as opposed to just coming about naturally. Also, the guilty turn out to be not as guilty as we thought which leads to the muddled messages that underly this drama. This film would've been more suitable if it was released closer to the events of September 11th, 2001 but now the themes of this film have reverberated in the news for eight years, does this type of tale just serve as a reminder of the effects of a terrorist attack or is it more about the boy who believes to be the spawn of two historical figures? I really wanted to enjoy Adoration and it is well directed and acted enough to be watchable, but the thoughts it leaves you with are too open ended for you to admire the story as much as the themes that it represents.