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ADORATION Send This Review to a Friend
Writer-director-producer Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” holds one’s attention because of the cast members and Egoyan’s ability but winds up an odd tale that strains credibility.
All of the emotion expressed is undercut by the forced nature of putting bits and pieces together in the service of a story that is ultimately more pretentious than convincing.
An air of mystery pervades events, built around a Toronto high school student named Simon (Devon Bostick), who had been puzzled over the true circumstances surrounding a fatal car crash that killed his parents. When his French teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian), who is Lebanese, gives a translation assignment based on a news story about a terrorist planting a bomb in the luggage of his pregnant girlfriend, Simon’s imagination is stirred.
He creates his own version of events, reads it to the class and posts it on the internet, which churns up anger given the volatility of the subject matter. Meanwhile, Simon poses questions to his grandfather Morris (Kenneth Welsh), who is dying and has detested his late son-in-law Sami, who Morris is convinced intentionally caused the fatal accident that took the life of his daughter.
This is heady stuff for Simon, and mystery mounts, involving the motivations of Simon’s teacher. Egoyan weaves flashbacks into the story in an effort to clue us into the dynamics and the characters, past and present. (Simon’s parents are played by Noam Jenkins and Rachel Blanchard, and the uncle with whom Simon lives is portrayed by Scott Speedman.) The result is somewhat of a hodgepodge. That wouldn’t be as bad if the story were more believable, but the whole enterprise becomes unbearably strained and ultimately not worth the effort an audience must expend to follow it all. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
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