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Ararat

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Ararat (2002)

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Reviews Counted:74

Fresh:42

Rotten:32

Average Rating:6.4/10

Consensus: Though Ararat radiates intelligence, its impact is diminished by an overly intricate plot and cerebral style.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence, sexuality/nudity and language

Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Nov 15, 2002 Limited

Box Office: $1,378,159

Synopsis: ARARAT, Atom Egoyan's mysterious drama about the horrors of the largely unknown Armenian genocide in Turkey, unrolls through a film within the film (also titled ARARAT). Jumping back and forth in... ARARAT, Atom Egoyan's mysterious drama about the horrors of the largely unknown Armenian genocide in Turkey, unrolls through a film within the film (also titled ARARAT). Jumping back and forth in time, Egoyan weaves together the lives of several people. Ari (Arsinee Khanjian), an art historian, is an advisor on the film. Her son Raffi (David Alplay) is part of the film crew. When Raffi travels to Armenia to gather some additional footage, he is detained by a customs agent (Christopher Plummer) and remains in custody for most of the film. Meanwhile, Raffi's stepsister and girlfriend Celia (Marie-Josee Croze) is haunted by her father's suicide. These and other stories within ARARAT are ostensibly linked through the film within a film. Yet, it is each character's quest for truth which binds them thematically and drives the plot. The film is populated with thematic twins, as each character's individual struggle is mirrored in the plight of the other characters. Egoyan works from his own script relying heavily on references to Arshile Gorky's painting "The Artist and his Mother" and Clarence Ussher's historical document, AN AMERICAN PHYSICIAN IN TURKEY. [More]

Starring: David Alpay, Charles Aznavour, Eric Bogosian, Brent Carver

Starring: David Alpay, Charles Aznavour, Eric Bogosian, Brent Carver, Marie-Josee Croze, Bruce Greenwood, Arsinee Khanjian, Christopher Plummer

Director: Atom Egoyan

Director: Atom Egoyan
Screenwriter: Atom Egoyan
Producer: Robert Lantos, Atom Egoyan
Studio: Miramax Films

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Release:

Jul 22, 2003

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Ararat
  • From the Academy Award(R)-nominated director Atom Egoyan (Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, THE SWEET HEREAFTER, 1997; EXOTICA, FELICIA'S JOURNEY), and featuring an all-star cast, ARARAT is the acclaimed cinematic masterpiece about a tragic historical event, a country in denial, and a people yearning for the truth. For the estranged members of a contemporary family, the tangled relationships of their present are only complicated by their catastrophic past. And what begins as a search for clues becomes a determined quest for answers across a vast and ancient terrain of deception, denial, fact, and fears. This stunning and passionate motion picture explores the pursuit of identity through the intimate moments shared by lovers, families, enemies, and strangers.
  • Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Ararat

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    1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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    Even as a flawed and self-indulgent film, it’s thought-provoking, intelligent and well worth seeing.

    Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
    11/22/02
    Brian Webster
    Brian Webster
    Apollo Guide

    Too much time is wasted showing how these people are joined, instead of what those connections mean and why these characters all belong in the same movie.

    Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
    01/17/03
    Phil Villarreal
    Phil Villarreal
    Arizona Daily Star
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
    02/21/04
    Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    There's no doubting that this is a highly ambitious and personal project for Egoyan, but it's also one that, next to his best work, feels clumsy and convoluted.

    Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
    03/19/03
    Tom Dawson
    Tom Dawson
    BBC

    Before long, you get Egoyan's big idea -- and it's hardly a good one. He wants to turn the movie screen into a blackboard.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    11/27/02
    Wesley Morris
    Wesley Morris
    Boston Globe
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
    11/30/02
    Boston Phoenix

    In the end, Egoyan's enormous talent and Mychael Danna's intense score keep Ararat interesting and emotional.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
    06/05/02
    Mark Keizer
    Mark Keizer
    Boxoffice Magazine

    Egoyan's work often elegantly considers various levels of reality and uses shifting points of view, but here he has constructed a film so labyrinthine that it defeats his larger purpose.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
    11/27/02
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    In the end, Ararat has enough artistry and intelligence -- and enough commitment from Egoyan, producer Robert Lantos and company -- to justify more than a higher-than-mixed rating.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
    11/26/02
    Michael Wilmington
    Michael Wilmington
    Chicago Tribune
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Impassioned performances and direction make this a riveting recreation of a reprehensible period neglected by historians.

    Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
    02/21/03
    Bryan Reesman
    Bryan Reesman
    Citysearch

    It's the type of stunt the Academy loves: a powerful political message stuffed into an otherwise mediocre film.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    12/02/02
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    A difficult but worthy film that bites off more than it can chew by linking the massacre of Armenians in 1915 with some difficult relationships in the present.

    Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
    11/08/02
    Harvey S. Karten
    Harvey S. Karten
    Compuserve

    Deliberately ponderous, meticulously constructed.

    Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
    11/27/02
    Mary F. Pols
    Mary F. Pols
    Contra Costa Times

    You can quibble with excess characters and storylines, but the cumulative effect is strong and emotionally accurate.

    Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
    11/26/02
    Chris Vognar
    Chris Vognar
    Dallas Morning News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Egoyan's movie is too complicated to sustain involvement, and, if you'll excuse a little critical heresy, too intellectually ambitious.

    Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
    03/14/03
    Robert Denerstein
    Robert Denerstein
    Denver Rocky Mountain News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It's not easy to shake or dismiss.

    Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
    04/04/03
    Jeff Vice
    Jeff Vice
    Deseret News, Salt Lake City

    Part impassioned history lesson, part reflection on the way entertainment distorts history, part extension of [Egoyan's] previous explorations of how desire and need distort our sense of self.

    Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
    11/27/02
    Terry Lawson
    Terry Lawson
    Detroit Free Press
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Only the most patient, sensitive and sensible of viewers will cut through the film's affectations and indulgences to come to the point.

    Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
    11/27/02
    Susan Stark
    Susan Stark
    Detroit News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Atom Egoyan has conjured up a multilayered work that tackles any number of fascinating issues

    Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
    03/06/03
    D.K. Holm
    D.K. Holm
    DVDTalk.com

    This movie's heart is in the right place. Too bad the rest of it is all over the place.

    Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
    11/15/02
    E! Online
     
     
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    Latest News for Ararat

    September 07, 2005: Trailer Bulletin: Where the Truth Lies
    From Atom Egoyan, director of "Exotica," "The Sweet Hereafter," and "Ararat," comes Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman in the already... More...

    August 22, 2005: Egoyan's "Truth" May Lie with an NC-17
    ThinkFilm, distributor of the new Atom Egoyan film "Where the Truth Lies," plans to appeal what they believe will be an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, says The Hollywood... More...

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