Rent Adoration (2008)

A weird but interesting film, unlikely to captivate all - Adoration review by Philip in Paradiso

This is a strange movie. The storyline itself, once you strip it away of all its added layers (added on purpose but confusing the viewer rather than anything else, also on purpose), is actually fairly simple. So, the film is deliberately convoluted and draws you into its multi-layered narrative, creating a claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere centred on one question: what is the truth?

The plot plays on the fact that, in anyone's life, there are conflicting narratives: there is what happened (insofar as it is known); there is what you remember or know, and what people tell you they know or witnessed; there is your interpretation and your emotions; there are all the unknowns; there are flawed memories and half-truths as well as lies; there is fiction, rooted in reality, and re-constructing the reality that you experience, and so on. All of this interferes with the plot, which is basically about a Canadian teenager trying to figure out what happened to his parents (who are both dead).

The film is, therefore, undeniably interesting, but it moves somewhat slowly, oppressively, claustrophobically towards its climax that is not really a climax. The teenager's uncle, Tom, the tow-truck driver, although he has his own issues, is the only 'normal' character; all the others are odd, troubled, confused, conflicted, twisted, or downright perverse. And yet Tom is presented as the problem one in this warped comedy of errors, maybe because he is, precisely, the only reasonably rational and balanced individual in the story!

I was never bored watching the film, but I wouldn't say it is as good as many snobbish critics claimed. It is not bad. But it is also ponderous and needlessly complicated. It will appeal to some, if they like that kind of psychological/ sentimental drama.