Atom Egoyan
Family Viewing
Edition 1988
86'
-
1987
-
Drama
-
Dialogue:
English
Director:
Atom Egoyan
Composer:
Mychael Danna
With:
David Hemblen, Aidan Tierney, Gabrielle Rose
Rigidly stylized, emotionally drained and squarely composed, this darkly humorous tale of Oedipal unrest in Couch Potato Kingdom is at once distinctly weird and weirdly familiar. But this is not a case of strangeness for strangeness' sake: beneath Egoyan's meticulous veneer of icy oddness lies a bull 's eye attack on the social, emotional and sexual consequences of a few lifetimes of indiscriminate media binging.
While the film opens on an image of nuclear family coziness (mother, father and junior enjoying TV together), we soon learn better than to trust what we sec. This 'family' is actually a stewpot of simmering tensions. ( ... ) Not everybody 's cup of fun, Family Viewing is rich and provocative stuff for those who are up to it. It 's also the most effective attack on couch potato culture since Scorsese's King of Comedy and Cronenberg's Videodrome. Egoyan has turned the TV remote control into a lethal weapon. (Geoff Pevere in The Toronto Star. 24.11.87)
While the film opens on an image of nuclear family coziness (mother, father and junior enjoying TV together), we soon learn better than to trust what we sec. This 'family' is actually a stewpot of simmering tensions. ( ... ) Not everybody 's cup of fun, Family Viewing is rich and provocative stuff for those who are up to it. It 's also the most effective attack on couch potato culture since Scorsese's King of Comedy and Cronenberg's Videodrome. Egoyan has turned the TV remote control into a lethal weapon. (Geoff Pevere in The Toronto Star. 24.11.87)
Image gallery
Credits
Director
Atom Egoyan
Composer
Mychael Danna
With
David Hemblen, Aidan Tierney, Gabrielle Rose
Scenario
Atom Egoyan
Director of Photography
Peter Mettler
Editor
Bruce McDonald, Atom Egoyan
More information
Dialogue
English
Countries of production
Canada
Year
1987
Filmography
Atom Egoyan
Lust of a Eunuch (short, 1977), Howard in Particular (short, 1979), After Grad with Dad (short, 1980), Next of Kin (1984), Men: A Passion Playground (short, 1985), Family Viewing (1987), Speaking Parts (1989), The Adjuster (1991), Montréal vu par... (1991), Peep Show (short, 1992), Open House (short, 1992), Calendar (1993), Exotica (1994), A Portrait of Arshile (short, 1995), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Bach Cello Suit #4: Sarabande (1997), Felicia's Journey (1999), The Line (short, 2000), Diaspora (short, 2001), Close (short, 2001), Ararat (2002), Where the Truth Lies (2005), Citadel (2006), To Each His Own Cinema (2007), Adoration (2008), Chloe (2009), Invisible World (2012), Venice 70: Future Reloaded (2013), Devil's Knot (2013), The Captive (2014), Remember (2015), Guest of Honour (2019), Bluebeard's Castle (2022), Seven Veils (2023)
