Visually and Emotionally Compelling Drama of Family Life (Rating: 4.00)
Review : This is an interesting father-stepmother-son story. Father loves television and his video camera. Every time we encounter father he is in front of television or getting ready to record one of his sex tapes with his new live-in. Father is emotionally withdrawn so stepmother tries to seduce son. Son is the only mature responsible one in this household. the stepmothers repeated attempts to seduce her stepson are met with charming refusals. The son is played by a very appealing young actor. The son finds that his father is recording his sex tapes over the tapes in the family video archive. So the son takes it on himself to attempt to salvage the archive and the family. Son also wants to spring his grandmother from the home she is in. At the home son meets a ravishing beauty. Ravishing beauty is unwittingly involved in sons plot to spring his grandmother. Ending of film reveals mystery of original mothers disappearance. Egoyan cuts between old and new video footage in a convincing(it feels Egoyan is conveying an emotional truth about modern life which just feels right)and compelling way. All the characters are multi-dimesional, even the minor ones which gives this story depth and dimension. It has the look of an Indie film but the emotional range is that of a master storyteller. Atomic weight: 4 stars.
This film makes me hate being Canadian! (Rating: 1.00)
Review : Why do Canadian films always suck? Why does the world love Atom Egoyan? Yeah, machines can both aid and interfere with human communication and intimacy. We all know that modern modes of communication can "erase" history and lead to a narcissistic culture, but these ain't great topics for a feature film. Gee-whiz! I'll take an Ed Wood film about go-go dancing zombies before I sit through another Atom Egoyan flick!!!
Egoyan's obsession with video imagery is taken to the limit (Rating: 5.00)
Review : After recently watching the dvd version of "the sweet hereafter" i learned a little bit more about Atom Egoyan and why he uses video so much. Family Viewing really did a lot for me when i watched it...i was really impressed with what he was saying using video and also how he has continued to do that with his later films. His photography is beautiful and the story is eerie and disturbing to some degree. But if you enjoy Egoyan you are probably use to that. And if you haven't seen this yet then I would fully recommend it, because it shows really well where he is coming from in his newer movies. Felicia's Journey comes out in the next few weeks and from the trailer, it appeared to have some video in it....good deal.
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