Everett, Wash.
Published: Friday, June 26, 2009

'Adoration' tries, but story is just too static

By Robert Horton
Herald Movie Critic

 Canadian director Atom Egoyan is fond of pondering situations from multiple perspectives, and when he's in the groove ("The Sweet Hereafter," for instance), this method can be a way of opening up the world in a bigger way.

With his new film "Adoration," Egoyan's approach misfires, I think. An interesting central situation dissipates in the fragmented storytelling.

That central situation involves a Toronto high-school kid named Simon (Devon Bostick), who reads a speech to his classroom one day. A narrative of Simon's (now dead) parents, the tale involves terrorism.

When the story gets out on the Internet, both Simon and his teacher (Arsinee Khanjian), who strongly encouraged him to share the story, come under scrutiny.

There are some (rather mild) surprises in the aftermath of this, but the most important thing is that Simon's tale raises the hackles of friends and strangers alike.

It also upsets Simon's uncle Tom (Scott Speedman), who's been raising Simon since the death of the parents. Most of this information comes to us in bits and pieces, and we can't be quite sure who's telling the truth.

The film keeps returning, for instance, to Simon interviewing his hospital-bound grandfather. The elder man bears a grudge against Simon's father, who was Lebanese, blaming him for a family catastrophe.

Egoyan sets up a series of issues that need to be addressed, and a set of prejudices that need to be dealt with. Unfortunately, these mostly resolve just about exactly the way you'd expect them to, based on the first 20 minutes of the film.

Since the beginning of his career, Egoyan has taken an interest in the way the new media fractures reality and sometimes muddies the truth. In this film, those devices include cell phones, cameras and Internet chat rooms abuzz with opinions.

None of this is quite enough to energize the static atmosphere "Adoration" creates. At times it's as though this movie is suffering from depression.

The film's best performance comes from Scott Speedman ("Underworld"), who always seems like a determined actor trapped in a leading man's body. He breathes physical life into the somewhat airless spaces of Egoyan's world.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA