Atom Egoyan’s new film concerns teenager Simon’s (Devon Bostick) coming to terms with his parents’ deaths, initially through a story he writes for his French class at the prompting of his strangely meddlesome teacher (Arsinée Khanjian). The story—of his Arab father (Noam Jenkins) planting a bomb in the luggage of his pregnant, unwitting Caucasian mother (Rachel Blanchard) before she goes to marry him in Bethlehem— seems ambiguously true, even though the facts, as some know them, indicate it isn’t. This matters not, however, to the Internet chat rooms that Simon is a part of, and a wave of controversy follows, throwing light and shadow on each character’s past and present motivations.

This is well-trod territory for Egoyan—lies presenting their own forms of truth (see the title of his last major film)—though never before has he handled it so poorly. Momentum fizzles; authenticity strains; ostensibly under-rehearsed actors seem surprised at how ludicrous and/or turgid their lines are; symbols and motifs intrude concussively. One wants to criticize Egoyan for privileging concept over verisimilitude here, even though his idols—Antonioni and Resnais, say—do just this, to great effect. Yet Egoyan cannot get close to what he wants with Adoration, simply because he has not bothered with it enough. This is, above all, a sloppy film, and thus its ideas, salient and timeless though they may be, appear silly and, much worse, pretentious.—David Balzer

Adoration festival show times:
September 8, 6:00 p.m., Visa Screening Room
September 10, 12:45 p.m., Scotiabank Theatre 1

Related:
• View photos from the Adoration opening night gala