Calendar is the shortest of the Essential films, and the cheapest, but it's also the most personal. Egoyan and Khanjian play versions of themselves who go to Armenia to take pictures for a calendar. On the way, Khanjian may fall for their tour guide, for whom she translates, and remain behind. This video footage is intercut with the present day, over the next year, where Egoyan's character is repeating the same date over and over again with different women who must, at some point, make a phone call in a different foreign language. It's a mysterious portrait of a relationship between two people, yes, but also with one's own culture. Egoyan's character is estranged from both. Calendar is an intricate piece about not belonging to the culture you purport to be from.
It's weird how enigmatic Calendar seems, while somehow feeling completely familiar at the same time. Maybe it's just the mental space it exists within. The feeling that you really don't know somebody you're close to; the perverse desire to be betrayed, to distance oneself; the strange incapacity to take action. Instead of inauthentic pathos, Egoyan focuses on the absurdly humourous. Really a brilliant film with a unique visual language--I would probably have to watch it a few more times to do it justice so I won't say any more for now.
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Siskoid
Calendar is the shortest of the Essential films, and the cheapest, but it's also the most personal. Egoyan and Khanjian play versions of themselves who go to Armenia to take pictures for a calendar. On the way, Khanjian may fall for their tour guide, for whom she translates, and remain behind. This video footage is intercut with the present day, over the next year, where Egoyan's character is repeating the same date over and over again with different women who must, at some point, make a phone call in a different foreign language. It's a mysterious portrait of a relationship between two people, yes, but also with one's own culture. Egoyan's character is estranged from both. Calendar is an intricate piece about not belonging to the culture you purport to be from.the3rdman
It's weird how enigmatic Calendar seems, while somehow feeling completely familiar at the same time. Maybe it's just the mental space it exists within. The feeling that you really don't know somebody you're close to; the perverse desire to be betrayed, to distance oneself; the strange incapacity to take action. Instead of inauthentic pathos, Egoyan focuses on the absurdly humourous. Really a brilliant film with a unique visual language--I would probably have to watch it a few more times to do it justice so I won't say any more for now.Blocho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZaH3VMQvvIelcid
Excellent depiction of a depressive and obsessive neurosis.