Storyline

People tell stories. In Toronto, an art historian lectures on Arshile Gorky (1904 -1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. A director invites the historian to help him include Gorky's story in a film about the genocide and Turkish assault on the town of Van. The historian's family is under stress: her son is in love with his step-sister, who blames the historian for the death of her father. The daughter wants to revisit her father's death and change that story. An aging customs agent tells his son about his long interview with the historian's son, who has returned from Turkey with canisters of film. All the stories connect.

Plot Keywords

painting, filmmaking, christian, film director, film set, prayer, turkey the country, denial, ottoman empire, genocide, art museum, art studio, battle, bayonet, bible, blood, book, adultery, war crime, female nudity

Short Review

It is a mess, cramming in every inflammatory ethnic item on this Canadian-Armenian director's agenda. Egoyan has dedicated so much time and feeling to the historical wounds of his race that the emotion is festering.

Trailer