neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Ararat
	Atom Egoyan David Alpay, Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer, Arsinée Khanjian, Elias Koteas, Bruce Greenwood, Eric Bogosian, Marie-Josée Croze 2002		During his career, Canadian writer/director Atom Egoyan has used scenario and persona to acknowledge his Armenian roots. His ethnic concerns reach an apotheosis with "Ararat," a lofty, overly complex film-within-a-film-within-a-film orchestration of historical drama, familial conflict, and meditations on truth and morality. As he shifts milieus, Egoyan swings the focus from public (national factions in conflict) to private (antagonism between mother and son), but the multiple layers obfuscate rather than elucidate. In 1915, Turkish troops devastated Turkey's Armenian community, although the government denied committing genocide. In contemporary Toronto, a movie about that long-ago horror is being made by a politicized director (Charles Aznavour), with the assistance of Armenian-history advisor Ani (Arsinée Khanjian). Meanwhile, Ani's alienated son Raffi (David Alpay), a young filmmaker romantically involved with his volatile stepsister, heads for Turkey to shoot footage of the sites where the atrocities occurred, and returns to trouble from a Canadian customs officer (Christopher Plummer).