Review of Adoration (2009) by Colin O — 10 May 2010

Struggling with the loss of his parents, Simon is given an assignment by his teacher to assess the impact a falsified news report can have. The web of lies Simon weaves goes too far and starts to affect his standing amongst his friends and may tarnish the memory of his deceased parents. In terms of dealing with grief and coping mechanisms, saying that your dead father was a terrorist who took your pregnant mother hostage on a plane is not going to be very affective. If anything's about to explode it's big can of worms. I feel that this film was never designed to work as a drama; more as a discussion piece about the audiences fears and prejudices of the unknown.

The film itself features it's own kind of mock-trial on Skype, as all of Simon's friends chime in on a subject they are all too young to comprehend, like a coffee-shop discussion but through monitors. Seeing a young boy who doesn't know whether to romanticise his parents memory or destroy it, no teacher would ever ask a pupil to subject themselves to this scrutiny, making the film unbelievable and slightly exploitative. If you're familiar with director Atom Egoyan's other works, you may find things to like. But outside of the art-house crowd, I can't see this finding an audience.