Word: egoyan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Exotica, which takes place in the forbidden world of an erotic dance club and also brings together an eclectic group of characters, was celebrated by most critics as Egoyan's final maturation into one of the industry's foremost independent filmmakers. Although Egoyan keeps a special place in his heart for his early films, he does view Exotica as a kind of culmination. "I definitely saw Exotica as a summation of many of my recurrent themes-at the time, I believed that I had gone as far as I could with original material and it was time to move onto...
...Believing that he had exhausted his ideas for original material with Exotica, Egoyan decided it was time to turn to the literary world. Egoyan eventually chose Russell Banks's The Sweet Hereafter, a relentlessly bleak story about the aftermath of a tragedy in which fourteen children are killed in a school bus accident. The result was an infinitely subtle and heartbreaking film that found its way onto over 200 top ten lists...
...Sweet Hereafter proved to be a landmark film for Egoyan because, against virtually all odds, it garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. For those who think that independent filmmakers look down their nose at the Oscars, Egoyan serves as a striking contrast to that notion...
...Egoyan began to explore the complex web of human relationships, as well as the dark secrets lurking behind those relationships, in two particularly disconcerting films: The Adjuster in 1992 and Exotica, a twisty thriller that many view as his breakthrough, in 1994. Neither film should be watched with the expectation of a story that moves fluidly from point A to point B. Egoyan's focus is on the complex connections between his characters, and thus, the normal conventions of time and structure take a backseat to this desire. "I wanted to make a film about believable people doing believable things...
...vaguely remember Roger saying that, but it's completely untrue." Egoyan laughs. "I really don't have the patience for those sort of things. I don't try and write my screenplays as if they are puzzles-rather, I start with the pieces and work from there. I know it's a stereotype, but there is the sense that many Armenians like making rugs. It's actually true in my case. I like to see The Adjuster and Exotica as more of weaving a tapestry than putting a puzzle together...