Adoration

 

After a brief flirtation with genre filmmaking in the underrated Where the Truth Lies, Atom Egoyan's Adoration finds the auteur in more familiar territory. Stylistically, his latest film is more in keeping with his earlier works Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter.  It unfolds in a non-chronological fashion that maintains a compelling sense of mystery and withholds key information from the viewer, ensuring we have to play our part in piecing the puzzle together. Devon Bostick leads a fine cast as Simon, a student who reinvents his family history as part of a school assignment, and Egoyan uses this narrative to explore some of his favourite themes, such as the nature of truth and the role technology plays in our lives. These themes are handled with the director's customary intelligence, and the whole film has been assembled with a wonderful sense of fluidity and grace. Egoyan has subsequently completed Chloe, which will be arriving in cinemas soon, but the classy and thought-provoking Adoration is an immeasurably superior piece of work.