The Age (Melbourne)
July 22, 2004 Thursday
First Edition
Ararat;
DVD & VIDEO REVIEWS
by PHILIPPA HAWKER
DVD & VIDEO REVIEW: Ararat, AV Channel, 115 minutes, MA, drama, 2002
**½
Canadian director Atom Egoyan explores a complex story of history and
memory, investigation and denial, art and storytelling – examining a
moment in history within a story about family relationships and the
dilemmas of creative work.
A film director (Charles Aznavour) is working on a drama about the
Armenian genocide of 1915. He consults an art historian (Arsinee
Khanjian) who is an expert on the painter Arshile Gorky whose story
he is keen to incorporate into the movie. The multi-layered narrative
– an account of the film as well as flashbacks about a troubled
family past – pulls the strands of the film together. Ararat is an
ambitious and sometimes unwieldy film, dramatically speaking, but it
is still a thoughtful and involving work about belief, engagement and
responsibility.