Movie: Adoration

“Adoration” continues to explore the decidedly adult and thought-provoking themes put forth by respected Canadian director Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter,” “Felicia’s Journey”), a filmmaker likely more intent on stirring up debate than box-office receipts.

His twelfth feature, another ambitious art house movie by way of the Toronto International Film Festival, adds terrorism and technology to his usual serious mix of politics, family tensions and even tragedy, and the potential of children in peril. Some of its strange brew does not take turns a viewer might suspect, and a few twists, inspired by an initial narrator who might not be the most credible storyteller around, grab our attention if not our full-blown support.

As she does in so many of the writer/director’s films, beautifully exotic Arsinne Khanjian (Mrs. Egoyan) creates the film’s most interesting character. That would be a French teacher named Sabine, who inspires one of her high-school students (Devon Bostick) to create a translation exercise that may or may not be true.

Arsinne Khanjian stars in "Adoration."

The Internet, with its vast array of chat rooms, plays a key role in the theatrics, too, and it’s not always easy to piece together Egoyan’s puzzle from all the intricate parts.

In fact, for a long stretch, the audience likely will be wondering if the boy’s then-pregnant mother (Rachel Blanchard) really was duped into carrying a bomb into Israel by her terrorist husband (Noam Jenkins). And, if not, what really did happen to cause the kid to be raised by his Uncle Tommy (Scott Speedman), a hardworking tow-truck driver with work-related and family issues of his own?

A dramatic moment in Atom Egoyan's "Adoration."

One terrific scene finds Sabine showing up at her protégé’s house elaborately disguised as a Muslim woman to ask about the Nativity scene that Tommy annually builds on his front lawn. Certainly an explanation later comes home to roost, but it’s the kind of elaborate Egoyan magic that the director often weaves so well. Alas, if only his whole dark film equaled a few of its most enlightening parts.

Rated: R
Stars: Scott Speedman, Rachel Blanchard, Noam Jenkins, Arsinne Khanjian, Kenneth Walsh, Devon Bostick
Director: Atom Egoyan

Studio/Official Site: http://www.sonyclassics.com/adoration/

[John M. Urbancich has been reviewing movies and writing film features and celebrity profiles at Cleveland's Sun Newspapers for 25 years. As a longtime member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, his work has been appearing on the Sun News website for more than a decade. John also regularly updates his own site at www.JMuvies.com ]