Calendar (1993)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Atom Egoyan

Writer:

Atom Egoyan (written by)

Release Date:

3 June 1993 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A photographer and his wife take photographs of Armenian churches for use in a calendar. Their driver...

Plot Keywords:

Photographer | Memory | Identity | Ritual | Cultural Assimilation

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Arsinée Khanjian	...	Translator
Ashot Adamyan	...	Driver (as Ashot Adamian)
Atom Egoyan	...	Photographer
Michelle Bellerose	...	Guest
Natalia Jasen	...	Guest
Susan Hamann	...	Guest
Sveta Kohli	...	Guest
Viva Tsvetnova	...	Guest
Roula Said	...	Guest (as Rula Said)
Annie Szamosi	...	Guest
Anna Pappas	...	Guest
Amanda Martínez	...	Guest (as Amanda Martinez)
Diane Kofri	...	Guest

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

Armenia | Canada | Germany

Language:

English | German | Russian | Armenian | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Armenia

Company:

Armenian National Cinematheque, The

Trivia:

Film was mostly improvised, and made for barely $80,000.

Soundtrack:

Blue Feeling

Perhaps not entirely successful, but definitely good and well worth seeing

A small project wedged between his first two more mainstream products, The Adjuster and Exotica, Calendar stars the director and his wife, Arsinée Khanjian as a photographer and his wife. They are traveling to different Armenian churches in order to photograph them for a calendar. Both of them are Armenian by heritage, but he is disconnected from it, while she speaks the language (and acts as translator). During the trip, their Armenian guide begins to grow closer to the wife. The film actually takes place much later, as Egoyan, now no longer with his wife, is trying to duplicate her by holding "auditions" with women, presumably re-enacting the first meeting with his ex. It's all rather confusing. I never quite figured it all out. I'm not sure the film works. I liked all the stuff about the Armenian churches (some beautiful images here, and the film's style in these scenes is great), but the whole narrative about the dates never seemed to come to fruition. However, it is an extremely interesting film, and it's rather haunting at the end. Calendar itself may feel somewhat incomplete, but Egoyan is definitely a fully-fledged artist here. The only earlier film of his I've seen, Speaking Parts, did not communicate his talent. This is definitely worth seeing, especially as it only runs at 75 minutes.