Family Viewing (1987)

Van's father, Stan, is fond of video, always taping scenes of daily family life. But he does not take care of Van's grandmother, Armen. Although he could afford having her at home, she is ... See full summary »

Director:

Atom Egoyan

Writer:

Atom Egoyan

Stars:

David Hemblen, Aidan Tierney, Gabrielle Rose

3 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Hemblen	...	Stan
Aidan Tierney	...	Van
Gabrielle Rose	...	Sandra
Arsinée Khanjian	...	Aline
Selma Keklikian	...	Armen
Jeanne Sabourin	...	Aline's Mother
Rose Sarkisyan	...	Van's Mother
Vasag Baghboudarian	...	Young Van
David MacKay	...	Man Behind Counters
Hrant Alianak	...	Administrator
John Shafer	...	Private Detective
Garfield Andrews	...	Hotel Bellboy
Edwin Stephenson	...	Video Salesman
Aino Pirskanen	...	Mistaken Woman
Souren Chekijian	...	Priest at Funeral

Storyline

Van's father, Stan, is fond of video, always taping scenes of daily family life. But he does not take care of Van's grandmother, Armen. Although he could afford having her at home, she is spending her days watching TV in an old people's home. Van often visits her. He meets Aline, whose mother is in the next bed. Van wants to get his grandma out of the old people's home. Aline will help. Actually, Van, whose mother left, years ago, is looking for a real family life.

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Plot Keywords:

videotape | grandmother | sex | male female relationship | boyfriend girlfriend relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Quotes

Van: I've been feeling kinda weird lately.

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Connections

References Endless Love (1981)

User Reviews

Family Viewing is Egoyan's clinical dissection of a society both ailed and strengthened by alienation and peculiarity

"In the mode of a shoestring production, FAMILY VIEWING makes a good fist of probing the fundamentals of watching and being watched, all the scenes in Stan's condominium apartment are grainy, low-resolution home video footage that slowly unravels the insalubrious sides behind a closed door: Van's transgressive attachment with Sandra is semi-incestuous (Rose is charismatically affectionate to countervail the relationship's uncomfortable intimacy); Stan's sexual proclivity involves making home videos of his sex act and enacting phone sex with Rose through a third party (which is also Aline's avocation to earn extra money), the peculiar attention to unorthodox sexuality and social malaise has been one of the leitmotifs among his corpus, and here, Egoyan shows his acute acumen and felicity that leavens the narrative with strangely invoked aplomb and a knowingness that is devoid of neither mean-spirited judgements, nor simple sensationalization."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1988 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Black Comedy...

Filming Locations:

Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD160,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canada Council for the Arts, Ego Film Arts, Ontario Arts Council

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (surveillance footage) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1