Ararat
- Director: Atom Egoyan
- Writer: Atom Egoyan
- Producer: Sandra Cunningham; Atom Egoyan
CGiii Comment
Propaganda - they screamed and they may have a point but, all sides deserve to present their cases.
Egoyan and his muse-like wife deliver a film within a film - the distortion and poetic license are all part and parcel of film-making.
The disjointed narrative certainly diffuses any impact that this subject matter would have created - further exacerbated by fatuous subplots - what was the point of putting in a gay parent?
Sadly, the potential that this film had on paper dissolves on screen - leaving no lasting impression whatsoever.
Shame...great cast...used unwisely.
Again, Egoyan - over-rated, fails to deliver - as per usual.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
People tell stories. In Toronto, an art historian lectures on Arshile Gorky (1904?-1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the genocide in Turkey in 1915. A director invites the historian to help him include Gorky's story in a film about the genocide and Turkish assault on the town of Van. The historian's family is under stress: her son is in love with his step-sister, who blames the historian for the death of her father. The daughter wants to revisit her father's death and change that story. An aging customs agent tells his son about his long interview with the historian's son, who has returned from Turkey with canisters of film. Parents and children. All the stories connect.
Cast & Characters
Simon Abkarian as Arshile Gorky;
Charles Aznavour as Edward Sorayan;
Christopher Plummer as David;
Arsinée Khanjian as Ani;
Setta Keshishian as Dinner Guest / Wailing Mother;
David Alpay as Raffi;
Shant Srabian as Dinner Guest #3 / Doctor #1;
Marie-Josée Croze as Celia;
Elias Koteas as Ali / Jevdet Bay;
Brent Carver as Philip;
Max Morrow as Tony;
Christie MacFadyen as Janet;
Dawn Roach as Customs Officer;
Garen Boyajian as Young Gorky;
Lousnak Abdalian as Gorky's Mother