• An emphatic follow-up to 1994’s Exotica—Egoyan proves himself to one of cinema’s finest directors during this stretch of time in the mid-1990’s—compiling now twin achievements of  pain and loss
  • Like Exotica, this starts with a tracking shot during the credits laying out the color design that is going to fill the frame throughout the next nearly two hours. This is a washed out blue—almost like a sky blue- if you’re familiar with Steve McQueen’s work (McQueen debuted more than a decade after this film of course so this is a comparison, not influence)—it is the color in Shame. Egoyan tracks from that color on the floor (he’s using lighting to make it that color, it is actually a brown floor) to the great cinematic painting of a shot of the young couple in bed with their child (turns out to be a flashback or memory of the Ian Holm’s character)

Egoyan tracks from that color on the floor (he’s using lighting to make it that color, it is actually a brown floor) to the great cinematic painting of a shot of the young couple in bed with their child

  • Maybe it is the snow, or the fact that it comes in 1997 just one year after- but Mychael Danna’s very good score does sound a little derivative of Fargo
  • A meditation on suffering— this is horrific tragedy, a tough film—it lacks most of the political charge of a Sayles film—less anger and acidity than Mike Leigh or Altman
  • After the opening we get Ian Holm getting stuck in a car war with that sky blue (also the color of ice, and the mountains used throughout the film) lighting— clearly matching the opening credits—and his estranged daughter is on a pay phone on the other end and she has the same lighting, too

After the opening we get Ian Holm getting stuck in a car war with that sky blue lighting

…clearly matching the opening credits—and his estranged daughter is on a pay phone on the other end and she has the same lighting, too

also the color of ice, and the mountains used throughout the film

This is a washed out blue—almost like a sky blue- if you’re familiar with Steve McQueen’s work (McQueen debuted more than a decade after this film of course so this is a comparison, not influence)—it is the color in 2011’s Shame

  • Like Exotica the narrative jumps back and forth in time to show you the cause and effect of this devastation—here bouncing between at least three different strands (before the accident, after, and then Holm’s flight with his daughter’s childhood friend) and on top of that we have the memory of him with his young daughter in a few different spots
  • The color – clearly an artistic dedication to a color design—like Mike Leigh’s Naked in 1993 with black. It is almost always on the characters clothes—bathing the frame in the color like a collection of artwork—the Otto’s A-shaped house, the ride at the fair near the end of the film

The color – clearly an artistic dedication to a color design—like Mike Leigh’s Naked in 1993 with black. It is almost always on the characters clothes—bathing the frame in the color like a collection of artwork—the Otto’s A-shaped house, the ride at the fair near the end of the film

  • It is a civil action legal film in some ways—and Sarah Polley reads from the pied piper story—Holm—devastating. The story is patiently told—tasteful, sensitive and chilling.
  • The black widow monologue from Holm has to be his finest moment as an actor — a career that includes 15+ archiveable films
  • Egoyan tilts the camera to the sky for several transitions– perfect use to marry the content and style
  • A Must-See film