Ok, so I saw Felicia's Journey last night. anyone else seen it. I seriously think Egoyam is duking it out with Jarmusch right now for my #1 contemporary director spot. I'm re-watching Sweet Hereafter tonight, and I have to see Exotica again because the first time I watched it was before I was really into movies, and may not have gotten it. But seriously, Felicia was an intense movie.

*spoilers*

It's very tough not to be cliche about a serial killer, and I've noticed how egoyam really uses the video recordings of everything in his car to try to control/coach each new woman. when I first saw the tapes in the background I freaked out.

And the fact that his mom was a tv, personality, that controlled everything through re-takes, so that things always went smoothly was a double pleasure in light of exposing how/why Hildich felt so comfortable mediating his relationships with women via camera. It was interesting how sick he got when watching "the show that went wrong." I think it freaked him out not only as a childhood trauma, but also because it reminded him even via recording tape, things can get out of hand. which apparently, they always did. which is why when all the needy prostitutes had moved on and wanted to leave him he would kill them.

Wow. it was very scary when you first noticed he was filming her, and then there are cuts of all these other women, and then there are images of these women freaking out and trying to get out of the car. I was seriously stressed. Felicia was not a prostitute, but she was in a very resceptive and needy position of course, which is why he could manipulate her needs. there was this whole backdrop of the struggle between the Irish and the Northern Irish/British that pretty much played out her pregnancy.

*end spoilers*

It seems to me that Egoyam deals alot with past trauma, or at least bad memories. But he's great at not dwelling on them as past, and really making his movies ask questions about the future. That's kind of why he's starting to move into my fave position (not yet...need to see a few more). I have to say, the thing about Jarmusch is, he's very poetic, both visually and his narrative style, and has alot of sources. His movies are about the past, and lead up to the present, but they don't make you ask questions about the future.

To me, they are a bit like jewels to appreciate. To admire every angle, to really get deep into and appreciate the luxury, but it doesn't really go past the jewel. Egoyam on the other hand, leaves me with just alot of questions. His stuff isn't as polished, and I think its because what he is trying to do. Both really do have beautiful cinematography though.

Anyways, anyone want to comment on Egoyam's movies? I'm rewatching Sweet Hereafter tonight and i haven't seen Calendar yet. But I'm hoping over break to get some official reviews up.

l just rented Sweet Hereafter yesterday...l'll probably watch it today.

Dolce. Me too. Just got the dvd. We shall discuss it tomorrow morning. I'm watching it tonight again. Let me know what you think.


edit* Also, apparently he has written two books. I stumbled across one in a book store two weeks ago (Thanksgiving break) and it looks beautiful Here is a picture of the cover:



The opening said something like "All movies are foreign to someone somewhere." It was basically a film in book format, playing on these intense visuals with just short subtitled captions at the bottom of each page that play on the reader's expectations. Genius.

Well, rewatched Sweet Hereafter yesterday, and its just as good as I remember it being when I saw it two years ago! This movie is just very intense. Somehow, even though the lawyer is struggling with his own daughter's problems when he goes to investigate the school bus accident, it never becomes too cliche. I think part of it has to do with how Egoyan plays with time. Basically, if you think about it, the movie begin and ends after the accident. And his handling of the time in between, including splicing the plane flight over, and Mitchell's memories of Zoe's childhood, the before and after shots of the children and driver. Nicole's reading of the Pied Piper. All these serve to maintain a sort of even tone throughout the movie, so that the accident isn't a peak at all. I almost forgot it was even shown. It just gets a couple minutes and over half way through the movie at that.

Really, a subtle examination of handling immediate trauma expertly brought to life by a master storyteller. On my top 100 list and it will certainly remain there for quite some time to come.

A

The only mis-step so far in his catalog has been Felicia's Journey. Maybe because I thought it was trying to be a black comedy but wasn't very funny. Ararat was a bit of a mess too, but still worked and is worthy of viewing.

My friend really likes the part where he's walking in the hall and there is a beat and Hoskins looks straight into the camera.

Yeah, the looking into the camera part was a bit cliche, but I didn't think the movie was a dark comedy at all. I thought it was very serious. I freaked out when I first realized what the tapes in the background were (trying to be elusive so that I don't spoil it).

I think it wasn't a comedy, but that he did struggle a bit at the end to try and express emotions, and forcably externalized things that would have been better left ambiguous. The part when he's digging I assume, and the two bible sellers come by? That's the part that could be read as comedy, but I just saw Egoyan as trying to express Hoskins freaking out and then having a moment of redemption (when he admits to the ladies he took the money). I thought that scene could have been a bit more subtle, but I don't think it was so funny. It actually made me edgy the way the camera was going over the two women's shoulders as they were following him. It was very claustophobic.

It was tough because the Hoskins character tend to lend itself towards easier readability, but the use of mediation through his camera, and of course Felicia, are very serious, and I think serve as a grounding counterpoint.

Its not as good as Hereafter, but its pretty good.

I've heard all of his films are actually alluding to the Armenian genocide, which is why he finally did Ararat, and which is why Ararat is the most problematic yet ambitious of his projects. I'm going to check it out soon along with Calendar.

I have two things to say in this thread...

1)that I am thrilled some other film-fans are watching Egoyan's films and really do enjoy them
2) that being Armenian myself, am ashamed not to have seen mosta ny of his films.

I saw Ararat, as you can imagine it was the biiiig rave in my cultural community when it came out and had immediate negative backlash. It wasn't because the film was bad but sorry to say, that my culture really doesn't understand it and couldn't appreciate the film for what it was because it wasn't and couldn't directly be about the Armenian genocide.

I have heard amazing things about The Sweet Hereafter and it has been on my renting list for the longest time, but the problem is I don't rent too many movies anymore. I don't have time.

As for Ararat... While I disagree with anyone saying it was a disaster, it wasn't the best it could be and that, in my opinion, is due to the fact that it was his most personal or delicate story to tell. For many artists, it's their ambitious or pressured works that don't come out too well because they think too narrowly.
All that considered, I thought Ararat was one of the best pictures of its year (in my top 15 of 2002). The focus and theme of the film was not the genocide but moreso the things people try to keep buried (that if we hide it, we think no one will talk about it, but the contrary, it will inevitably resurface) and the effects it plays out through many different stories and interwoven circumstances.

I will now defintely try to check out the Sweet Hereafter as soon as I can and post my thoughts.

I just got back from Hotel Rwanda. I'll write about it later.

Maybe because in my mode right now, Ararat seems to fit with the whole idea of geonocide movies and the Hollywoodization of historical events.

We like to blame ourselves and make ourselves feel bad that we don't all have a grip on everything that is happening or as happened, but history is far to vast and complex for anybody ever to get a grip on things. There is more going on in this hour in the world that I could ever possibly have the time or patience to learn about. In this situation, smaller issues and smaller countries are pushed out of the limelight. It is just the way we are as people. We use movies like this and Hotel Rwanda and Schindler's List to guilt ourselves into appreciation.

In truth, we are all human, and there are limits to our abilities.

This probably has nothing to do with Ararat. I'll speak more directly about Rwanda later.

Well I finally saw Calendar last night and Egyan cntinues to impress. I can't believe how much he did on what was clearly such a restrictive budget. Its works like this that prove why he's still around and grwing in prominence tday! Brilliant movie with the only flaw being a ittle bit of editing. What did he have for this though $10 and a home camera? Its not shot wide screen which is indication enough that its a start-up film, but instead of fighting it, Egoyan realy makes it part of the narrative. In fact the entire movie was breathtakingly beuatiful, but has those same postcard landscapes just randomy appeared in another movie, we'de think the director was trying to hard. But since he frames the camera always through a man (played by himself) doing a photoshoot of Armenian churches for a calendar, we are never shocked or even that conscious of how tightly shot the film is. He really works with what he has, and his wife (played by his real life wife) was actually a very good actress.

It took me a long time (maybe the first two to three women) to realize his dates were call girls, and longer still until I realized he wanted them to speak in foreign languages on the phone on purpose. I still wonder about that, but I have a feeling its a refernce to alienation, and the photographer trying to recreat how his wife spoke in a foreign language sensually to another man. He broke the scenarios down into the twelve months of the year, and kept the calendar up by the phjone so that we could see each photospread. Then it would flashback to when thatplace was actually being shot. So strongly framed, arguements about perfect natural lighting, everything.

What this meant ultimately was that this movie is both viscerally breathtakingly beautiful, and the it is also ambiguous and intelligent. Excellent movie and I hope we still see several more film from Egoyan in the future. He's pretty young so I feel like he's just getting started.

I saw Exotica last night. Sigh, every director has a weak point. I was not that into this movie. I saw it five years ago and didn't like it much, but hadn't had the same tastes back then. Well its better than I remember it being but it isn't spectacular. Really there is almost too much of a storyline. He ties it so in comepletely at the end that there is no ambiguous relationships or concepts left in any of the characters. Also, the way we played with obsession in that movie was not nearly so interesting as in Calendar. In the latter he shows this by having himself completely obsessed with listening to women speak sensually in foreign languages to other men (like how his wife left him) and in this one its too explicit and directly possessive. As far as cinematography goes, it was just a bit too typical upscale seedy strip-bar, and not enough of anything else. And not all that creative in the interior filming either. I'm hevering somewhere around B- or c+ for it actually. I think it had to do with some of the trouble he had transitioning to high budget films maybe.

I just rewatched "The Sweet Hereafter", and it is one of the best film I have ever seen.

Both "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Felicia's Journey" are very good for me.

I will try to see ARARAT as soon as I can.


BTW, he has a new movie in 2005.
http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0373450/

PS: Atom Egoyan seems like one of the few director who can direct good "incest" movies. :wink: (just kidding~~~~)

Mary, we'll just see about that... :wink: If someone can pull it off its him. I mean, he's done good movies about mass murderers (I agree with you about Felicia's Journey being interesting) and done good movies about mass child death on a school bus, and a movie that involves at least a dozen call girls acting out boredom and speaking in different languages, but incest is the final frontier. And he didn't win me over that much with Exotica, so sadly I have to admit that he might not do a bang up job here. Anyways, here's hoping, because he could make it very interesting too.

I have yet to see Ararat either. Let me know what you think when you get around to seeing it and I'll do the same.

He's already dealt a bit about Armenian heritage and sort of losses in diasporic peoples (that he really didn't want to return to the homeculture/lang/tongue) and I heard that someone finally told him to just come out with it and do a film about Armenia. He did, so it could be bad since its no longer a subtle undertone, but it could be excellent, seeing as how he's clearly thought about it alot. Especially in Calendar. I suggest you check that one out too if you haven't already seen it. I real miracle considering he was just starting out, and had such a miniscule budget that he and his wife were the two actors in it.

Dolce has recruited a new Egoyan fan. Sweet Hereafter was amazing. I want to rewatch it before I blast this everywhere, but I think that was one of the best films I have seen. I'd definately put it high up on my lists. Wow.

So, should I rent "Felicia's Journey" next? That one seems popular here.

I have a pantheon of godly film directors. They caryr the burden of my film love and expectations, Egoyan is one of the pillars at its foundation.

Zach, I haven't seen Ararat yet. I heard it wasn't as smooth as some of his others, but I'll watch it with you sometime this summer if you want?

My second favorite was Calendar, but its very different, much earlier, and on such a tiny bidget it pretty much is just him and his wife as the principle actors. Take a crack at it if you can, but yes Felicia's Journey is up there. Later in the stage, and for me it was very frightening at moments. He's great with building suspense through mediation. A very psychological movie. All of his movies are above avaerage smart...even the ones that failed for me like Exotica. He was still trying to go for something higher. He's got a film in Cannes this year....so maybe we'll get treated to one of his films in theatres soon? [-o<


edit*** And yes zach, rewatch it. I've seen it about four times now I think, and I don't really tire of it.

*spoilers*

I'm shocked everytime the bus actually derails. I don't know why, but its a very raw and kind of stripped down scene. No rolling or effects, just some screaming. And when it sinks I always can't believe it. Catch myself holding my breath.

*end spoilers*

Thats wonderful to know he has another film comming soon. I'll take you up on that offer to watch "Felicia's Journey" soon... but I won't be free until July. I'll plan on renting it, though. I can't wait to see what else he has to offer.

The Sweet Hereafter told a good story, yes. A powerful story. But it was Egoyan's directing that really makes it standout imo. The use of music, the cinematography... the subtle things, eh? He is really something special- definately a great director. I hope his "touch" is their in his other works.

Oh, and I need to watch his commentary on Sweet Hereafter, too. I've heard from others he offers great insight into the pictures - the references, the symbolism, etc. I'm sure there's some stuff that went over my head, so I look foward to discovering what else there is....

Oh, and...

Dolce, I have a question. I hope you remember the answer. In Sweet Hereafter, remember the whole "Pied Pipper" monolouge by the girl, nichole? Here is some dialouge...

Mason: Nicole, did the Pied Piper take the children away because he was mad that the town didn't pay him?
Nicole: That's right.
Mason: Well, if he knew magic, if he could get the kids into the mountain, why couldn't he use his magic pipe to make the people pay him for getting rid of the rats?
Nicole: Because... he wanted them to be punished.
Mason: So he was mean?
Nicole: No, not mean, just... very angry.

Now, at the end she repeats this. Did she lie to get back at her father for the incest? Or the lawyer for using the town? The whole allusion works well in both cases, and I was wondering if you had a specific take on this...

Exotica. Well, it's been on tv a couple times in the past week or so, so l figured l'd give it a go. The first time it started at 1 AM or so, and l fell asleep. Tonight, however, l did not fall asleep. This is not to say my viewing was without faults, because, quite frankly, l didn't give the film my full attention. Basically l had it in the background while messing about on el comp. Oh sure, l watched it enough, and followed most of the story, caught most of the dialogue, but l never really let it take me away.

That said, l'm definitely going to rent it asap. l found it brilliant. Sweet Hereafter brilliant. And l wasn't even paying attention! Wow. Loved it. The acting, especially by the schoolgirl stripper was brilliant. The story was brilliant. The dialogue (that l listened to) was brilliant. l dunno. It's been a while since l've seen a film this good. Hopefully a proper viewing doesn't do it any bad. If 100 percent attention even improves my opinion a little bit l may just have to throw out the "M" word.

Really?


*spoilers*

Its still pretty good, but I must say I was a bit dissappointed at how everyone actually related to everyone else. Egoyan set it up with a sense of projection, and pushing the border between obsession and patriarch, but then he made her actually be his old babysitter for his daughter, and that didn't work too well for me. Nor did the dj's obsession with her once they'd split. It just seemed a bit, I don't know how to say it...direct? Its not that the parallel between the "lost" daughter and the "lost" children wasn't pretty direct in Sweet Hereafter too, but in Exotica it no longer even has the subtle differences, the same question of memory. There wasn't that much mystery to me. It didn't work the way the illegal animal salesman got suckered in..why he would be attached. I'm not explaining myself well. I'll need to try and pinpoint my problem a little better.

*end spoilers*

Its still smarter than alot of movies, and for that I give Egoyan credit. I also love how he sometimes cheqws off more than he knows how to handle. That's what makes him so exciting and how he has so much potential. He doesn't stick to the safe line either in sources or how he carries them out on screen. I don't know. Somehow Exotica still had me a bit put off.

On an aside. My bro worked on a kibbutz (I think, either that or she visitied the kibbutz for a week. I forget) with the lead actress in it. Not Egoyan's wife, but the babysitter/girl.

Also. If you checked out xiayun's sex and film quiz. Her opening dance to Leonard Cohen is one of the questions.

I went to see Ararat in theatre, and I must say I was very dissappointed. The movie didn't move me, I don't think that the best thought was put into it.