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      Family Viewing

      Released Jul 29, 1988 1h 26m Comedy Drama List
      Reviews 59% 250+ Ratings Audience Score A video buff (Aidan Tierney) lives in a Canadian high-rise with his father (David Hemblen) and his father's mistress (Gabrielle Rose). Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Family Viewing makes for fascinating viewing, though it is not designed as entertainment for the whole family Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Very strange film, not unusual for Atom Egoyan however. Interesting subject matter but a very negative film and it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. The acting is fine, just not a cheery film at all, but it is well made and the direction is thoughtful. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review walter m [font=Century Gothic]In "Family Viewing" Van(Aidan Tierney) and Aline(Arsinee Khanjian) meet at a retirement home while visiting their respective loved ones. Aline works as a phone sex operator which cannot support her mother's care while Van is the only member of his family to visit his grandmother, his mother having no contact with the rest of the family. Van's father, Stan(David Hemblen), has since remarried a younger woman, Sandra(Gabrielle Rose).(Stan works in electronics and has a tendency to videotape everything.) Aline receives a lucrative offer to meet a client in Montreal for a week and asks Van to look after her mother while she is gone...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Family Viewing" is not as good as the other early Atom Egoyan movies I have been watching recently but it still has its share of worthwhile moments. This movie is also about family and disconnectedness, but there is less of a story than usual. And the videotaping of sex is not that weird, as long as everybody agrees to it and they are all having fun.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic](And on that note, I am on vacation and will return to these pages on Tuesday, September 26.)[/font] Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Bad world and bad interiors. Bad memories. Video rawness. This movie stays with you for a while, A quiet grimness Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Your name is Adam. Not Atom. Learn how to spell. Dickhead. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member A bewildering mess of a movie that looks at a twisted family dynamic that is more about power than nurture. The film spent all of its time moving the narrative, such as it was, forward, and left the viewer trying to piece together the few small clues to the back story of these characters and how they wound up in these various configurations. The synopsis does a better job of helping one to understand the basic framework than the film itself does. In order to understand why these characters behave as they do, one is forced to invent motivations that are not evident. At times, and this might be due to the film's vintage, the sets and the stance of the characters, even the camera angles, reminded this viewer of soap opera television. A lot of the scenes were of video footage, or of the characters watching video footage. The acting was lackluster, the script rather stilted and the story hard to make sense of. Yet through it all, one begins to pull for the young man in his quest to personally care for his grandmother, against the wishes and the machinations of his father. Although the title indicates otherwise, this is not one for family viewing. Not a lot of skin, but some disturbing images and adult themes run throughout. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Family Viewing

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (4) Critics Reviews
      Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) Incomprehensible… and gets worse. [Full review in Spanish] Jul 8, 2022 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jun 26, 2005 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Not meant for family viewing as the title might indicate. Rated: B+ Jan 21, 2004 Full Review Christopher Null Filmcritic.com Rated: 3/5 Jan 1, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis A video buff (Aidan Tierney) lives in a Canadian high-rise with his father (David Hemblen) and his father's mistress (Gabrielle Rose).
      Director
      Atom Egoyan
      Screenwriter
      Atom Egoyan
      Distributor
      Angel Films A/S, Cinephile
      Production Co
      The Ontario Film Development, Ego Film Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts [ca]
      Genre
      Comedy, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jul 29, 1988, Limited
      Runtime
      1h 26m