Cheap Speaking Parts (DVD) (Atom Egoyan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Speaking Parts

"You've just got to know which buttons to push."
In Atom Egoyan's film, "Speaking Parts" bit-part actor, Lance, works in the housekeeping department of a posh, but strange hotel. Lonely co-worker Lisa (Arsinee Khanjian) stalks Lance during the day, and at night, she rents and re-rents his films. Lisa maintains that Lance may never actually speak in his roles, but that his scenes are crucial to the films. Lance, however, is not content with minor roles and understandably wants a big break. That big break seems to arrive when a writer named Clara checks into the hotel. When cleaning Clara's room, Lance discovers a script, and he approaches her for an audition. Clara is smitten with Lance, and soon auditions him for a part in a film.

Clara seems to have some artistic control over the film, but this power rapidly diminishes as the story progresses. In selling her true story to a film producer, Clara becomes disenfranchised from her own history, and soon she doesn't have a voice--or a speaking part in her own truth. Lance and Clara are both presented with occasions for moral compromise, and speaking out jeopardizes the tenuous positions they both hold.

"Speaking Parts" is about power--the power in relationships, and the only truly powerful person in this film is the producer (played with delicious icy gravity by David Hemblem). The producer lives on quite a different plane of existence, and he mostly communicates to his minions via television conferences which he entirely controls. Hemblem and Gabrielle Rose (she plays Clara) appear in many of Egoyan's films. I particularly enjoyed Lisa's odd relationship with Eddy, the video shop owner whose initial interest in Lisa sparks friendship.

Egoyan once again shows his obsession with television and technology. Egoyan seems to delight in placing his characters in front of the camera, and I can't think of another director who exploits and explores this medium quite so thoroughly--displacedhuman

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80's Avante Garde
This movie is a prime example of 80's egosim and the human need to see the way others view you. Lisa played by Khanjian,(I think she is also Atom's wife) is a hotel maid that craves the attention of Lance a co-worker. The bulk of the movie is centered on Lance and Lisa and how they their need for attention ultimately throws them into a web of intrigue, delusions, sexual desire and ultimatley death. This is a movie that is best seen more than once, due to it's hidden meaning and dialogue. If possible I would highly recommend getting the DVD version, because there is commentary from Atom that is very helpful. F.Y.I. Micheal McManus also appears in the sci-fi show "Lexx," as the dead bun-headed assassin Kai and he also has a cameo in "Dog Park," as the waiter.

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Riveting and Spellbinding!!
I was pleasantly surprised to see the release of this film, since it got less than it's deserved attention. The moodiness and underlying tension focus on Lance, a part-time actor/houskeeper/ prostitute trying desperately to break into the forefront of dramatic performances, but all of his efforts seem to be thwarted at every turn. His employer wants to keep him as her own personal sexual property to be doled out upon demand to customers, and Lisa, another employee at the hotel where he works has raised the level of obsessiveness to new heights, dragging other people into her obsession. Claire, a screenwriter Lance seduces into helping him to be cast in a locally produced film, has her own obsessions, and incorporates Lance into compromising his own needs with disatrous results. The performances were outstanding, especially from McManus, who portrays the effete Lance with a mixture of selfishness and torment. Lisa's descent into madness is underplayed just right, no over-the-top histrionics. The only flaw I found was the unbelievably bad wig they put on McManus for the comparison to Claire's brother's image. It must have been dreadful to acheive the desired results with the stringy locks hovering around just enough to distract his performance. But then, bad wigs pretty much come with the territory for McManus, who is also one of the lead actors on the sci-fi epic, "Lexx", currently on television, but his performances are just as spellbinding.. The Dvd comes with lovely extra goodies, especially the narration by Egoyan, which explains motivations behind each and every scene. Also contained were deleted scenes, which explained a few things not evident on first viewing. Highly recommened, but ignore the bad costumes and hairdos...