Cheap Calendar (DVD) (Atom Egoyan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Calendar

Self-indulgent and heavy-handed
I greatly enjoy Atom Egoyan's films, usually. I've followed his work since the release of SPEAKING PARTS and have seen most of his major films. I have found things to like about all of them - except this one. CALENDAR is a torturously self-conscious reflection on the ways an obsession with documenting reality can come between a filmmaker and those around him. The film has the FEEL of the confessional; to me, it seems very likely -- though I don't know for sure -- that Egoyan and Khanjian were playing, basically, THEMSELVES, and that the movie was meant as some sort of therapy for them -- Egoyan flailing around in his self-hate for being so afraid of experiencing an unmediated reality, wanting to see everything through the camera -- even his wife's attraction for another man, for example. In-between footage of Egoyan and Khanjian's trip to Armenia, we get lots of shots of Egoyan sitting around his apartment alone, contriving dates with women he doesn't really care much about and brooding over the memory of his failings with his wife. Maybe that sounds appealing to some of you -- sounds raw and daring, a filmmaker picking the scabs on his conscience aside and showing the viewer the throbbing wounds beneath; I personally found it embarrassing and somewhat distasteful. The obvious comparison, I suppose -- the film most like this one, that I've seen -- is DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY; but that movie only pretends to document a filmmaker's unhealthy dependancy on the camera-eye, and so never descends into the sort of psychological exhibitionism CALENDAR reeks of... If you're exploring his less-known work, or just looking for intellectually stimulating cinema, FAMILY VIEWING and SPEAKING PARTS are both incredible films. CALENDAR is one to avoid. (Sorry, Atom!)

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Armenians must know their history
Our duty as Armenians is to Remember and pass the memory to next generation and make the tragedy known to the world, this movie does it the best way... excellent, something to have at home and watch it over and over..it is good acting, excellent plot, love and history...

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Egoyan's only dud
Atom Egoyan is one of the most interesting directors alive. Indeed, "The Sweet Hereafter" was probably the best film of the 1990s. Practically everything Egoyan has made is worth a look.

Except for this mess.

"Calendar" is repetitive, pretentious, and almost unwatchable. It's like an Egoyan parody. The content would be thin even for a short film; as a feature-length production, it's a self-absorbed, seemingly endless disaster.

But *do* see "The Sweet Hereafter." And "Exotica." And "Felicia's Journey." And virtually anything else by this remarkable filmmaker.