Review: Adoration (2009)

[Steve Rhodes]

ADORATION
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

Writer and director Atom Egoyan is a cinematic master at creating incredibly 
sad and affecting tone poems to life's morose moments.  He has never created 
anything as brilliant as his forever memorable THE SWEET HEREAFTER, a 
mesmerizing examination of the tragic results of a bus crash on the 
inhabitants of a small town.

Egoyan's latest story is a minimalist tale told beautifully but sure to put 
some to sleep with its deliberately dreamy pacing and hauntingly beautiful 
violin music, played by the lead character's mother.

Simple on a surface level but complex in its full meaning and import, the 
plot concerns a translation assignment given by Sabine (Arsinee Khanjian). 
Sabine, who teaches both high school French and drama, reads her French 
class the story of a thwarted bombing attempt.  This newspaper article in 
French from many years ago concerns a pregnant woman who was conned by her 
fiancé into attempting to bring a bomb aboard an Israeli airline.  The 
class's assignment is to translate the story into English, as she reads it 
to the class.

The big surprise comes when Simon (Devon Bostick), one of the teacher's 
students, says in shock and horror that the story is actually about his 
parents.  In a movie in which nothing is quite what it seems -- or is it? --  
the boy's intentions aren't at all obvious.

The teacher invites Simon to tell his story to the class.  As he weaves his 
fantastical tale of woe, he appears to be presenting fiction as fact, but 
maybe he isn't.  Maybe his story is true.  Or maybe he is embellishing truth 
into fiction masquerading as fact.  One's head starts to spin imagining the 
possibilities.

At any rate, his story goes viral on the Internet with people in several 
multi-person video chat rooms arguing about what his father did.  As the 
student and the teacher lose control of the events, it appears that she 
could be fired.

Actually, the details of the story become increasingly irrelevant. 
ADORATION is best savored by suspending all disbelief and just immersing 
oneself into its great sense of mood.  It is a movie more to be experienced 
than analyzed.

ADORATION runs 1:52.  It is rated R for "sexuality and some language" and 
would be acceptable for teenagers.

The film opens nationwide in the United States on May 15, 2009.  In the 
Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Cinemark 
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.

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