Guest of Honour

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Guest of Honour

Released Jul 10, 2020

1h 45m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

41%

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63 Reviews

33%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

A father confronts his 20-year-old daughter, who is in prison for a sexual assault. Their relationship will become more complicated when the past resurfaces.

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Critics Consensus

David Thewlis' performance aside, Guest of Honour serves as a frustratingly limited return to form for writer-director Atom Egoyan.

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Robbie Collin

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Perhaps it's fitting that a film about a restaurant inspector should elicit so many sniffs of suspicion. But there's a playful spice and pungency here too.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 26, 2020

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Peter Rainer

FilmWeek (LAist)

It's kind of a mess narratively and psychologically.

Jul 22, 2020

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Claudia Puig

FilmWeek (LAist)

It feels scattershot and overwrought, unfortunately.

Jul 22, 2020

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Dustin Chang

ScreenAnarchy

Guest of Honour might not be the best thing Egoyan has made. But with David Thewlis's affecting and measured performance, it comes close to his heyday of filmmaking in the 90s.

Oct 23, 2020

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Taking place in various time periods, its tricky structure more garbled than intriguing, this is another recent Egoyan joint that's basically a trashy potboiler treated with a seriousness that only makes it all both leaden and silly.

Oct 12, 2020

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Joshua Brunsting

The CriterionCast

While it may not ultimately amount to much on a thematic level, Egoyan's latest is a fascinating experiment from a director who has seemingly found the spark once again.

Sep 10, 2020

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Nuri T

Time and effort invested in a story that yields no return!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/24/25

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jamal w

Most pointless movie in the league.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/18/23

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Audience Member

It is an entrancing and quickly seductive picture with interesting themes/ideas and careful direction but the few flaws it has are glaring and greatly curtail the spell that director Egoyan casts onto the viewer.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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john s

RABBIT EARS Used to be rabbit ears pulled in tv channels, now they are a coveted culinary delicacy. If nothing else, one always learns something from an Atom Egoyan film. Consistently fine thespian David Thewlis as a complicated health inspector, carries "Guest of Honour" with the calm assurance, refined decorum, and meticulous deduction of Sherlock Holmes. Yet it is he who is the mystery. And as wonderful a performance it is (he really does carry the movie), the convoluted and twisty plot proves too benign and lacking, to do justice to foreshadowed expectations. A forgettable and perplexing storyline involving his jailed daughter is awkwardly distracting at best, and out and out messy at worst. Slipping in a comedic Wilson brother (Luke) as a serious priest is admirable, but alas, serves to sabotage the dramatic flow. Too bad, as the movie does indeed look great, and Thewlis is excellent, a commanding screen presence, delivering a perfectly nuanced role lacking a worthy supporting cast, and more importantly, a superior written vehicle. - hipCRANK

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Synopsis

A father confronts his 20-year-old daughter, who is in prison for a sexual assault. Their relationship will become more complicated when the past resurfaces.

Director: Atom Egoyan
Producer: Atom Egoyan, Simone Urdl, Jennifer Weiss
Screenwriter: Atom Egoyan
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Ego Film Arts, The Film Farm
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 10, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 10, 2020
Runtime: 1h 45m

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