Family Viewing/Next of Kin
by Atom Egoyan
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aidan Tierney, Arsinée Khanjian, David Hemblen, Gabrielle Rose, Selma KeklikianDirector: Atom Egoyan
Cinematographer: Peter Mettler
Cinematographer: Robert MacDonald
Editor: Atom Egoyan
Producer: Atom Egoyan
Writer: Atom Egoyan
Editor: Bruce McDonald
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 158 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-06-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Zeitgeist Films
Movie Reviews of Family Viewing/Next of Kin
Movie Review: Family Viewing
Summary: 5 Stars
Atom Egoyan's second film (1987) seems dated and grainy, and sitting through it until you are used to the pacing can be excruciating, but ultimately you may find this to be one of your favorite films, especially if you are interested in how film affects our lives. Told through film augmented by home movies and juxtaposed television viewing and security cameras, this deep and complex film shows that Egoyan was interested in themes surrounding the act and effects of filming right from the beginning. Also, his layers upon layers style is here in all its glory, as is actor-wife Arsinee Khanjian.The story revolves around a young man just graduating from high school, his strained relationship with his father, his doting on his maternal grandmother who lives in a shabby nursing home, and his friendship with the telephone sex operator who visits her mother in the next bed.
This is one of those films that you will watch again and then watch with commentary and then want to talk to others about. Egoyan is a wonderful filmmaker, always interesting.
Extras include commentary, a very interesting bio/filmography of the director, over 12 minutes of rehearsal footage, stills and three early short films by Egoyan -- Open House (25 min), Howard in Particular (12 min, 1979) and Peepshow (7 min, 1981). The film can be heard in English with English or French subtitles.
Summary of Family Viewing/Next of Kin
In NEXT OF KIN (1984), a young man is having problems with his family. Catatonically unhappy, he undergoes video-therapy with his domineering parents. At the clinic, he comes across the videotapes of a troubled Armenian family, who twenty years earlier gave up their infant son to a foster home. This sly comedy explores the unexpected outcome of Peter presenting himself as this family?s long lost son. FAMILY VIEWING (1987) won numerous awards at major film festivals and established Egoyan as one of the most striking new directors of our time. In this black comedy a young man discovers that his childhood home videos have been erased to make room for his father?s homemade sex tapes. These two features are enhanced by Egoyan?s commentaries, as well as his first short films. For aspiring filmmakers as well as cinephiles, this collection of early work is a great introduction to this acclaimed writer and director.