Virtuallly anything by Atom Egoyan, in particular *Family Viewing*
and *Calendar,* although the electronic mediation of human experience and,
more pointedly, relationships, manifests itself throughout his work, from
the video therapy sessions and audiocassette-cum-lost son of his first
feature, *Next of Kin,* to the cellular 'phones of *The Sweet Hereafter.*
From a contemporary point of view, I would recommend viewing *all*
Egoyan's films, since video plays crucial roles in all his films, although
in *The Adjuster,* if I recall correctly, we never see a video image, but
hear the soundtracks of the "pirate" videos recorded by the adjuster's
wife, the censor (played by the incomparable Arsinee Khanijian, Atom's
wife), sounds used to complicate the viewer's narrative understanding of
the film until (being the modernist Egoyan is) all the disparate diegetic
pieces fall into place by the film's end.
Oh, *Speaking Parts,* too.
_______________________________________________________________________________
William Lafferty, PhD
Department of Theatre Arts [log in to unmask]
Wright State University office (937) 775-4581 or 3072
Dayton, OH 45435-0001 USA facsimile (937) 775-3787
The universe was once conceived almost as a vast preserve, landscaped
for heroes, plotted to provide them the appropriate adventures. The rules
were known and respected, the adversaries honorable, the oracles articulate
and precise as the directives of a six-lane parkway. Errors of weakness or
vanity led, with measured momentum, to the tragedy which resolved
everything. Today, the rules are ambiguous, the adversary is concealed in
aliases, the oracles broadcast a babble of contradictions.
--- Maya Deren, from her notes for *At Land*
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