I first became a fan of Atom Egoyan's work with Exotica, continued with The Sweet Hereafter, and then was completely hooked when I stumbled upon The Adjuster about ten years ago.
I bought the DVD (I was so taken with it) and then just watched it for the second time tonight. The Adjuster is possibly the most hypnotic and captivating of all of Egoyan's films (if you can get past the over-the-top bizarre factor) simply because you literally need to get to the end of the film to really put it together. And while that was true of other films, particularly Exotica, The Adjuster is a bit more rewarding simply because the themes and undercurrents of the film are so subtle. As with all of this Armenian-Canadian filmmaker's works, it draws its magic out slowly, until it literally has you mesmerized.
It centers around an almost martyr-like insurance adjuster (played with brilliant cryptic understatement by Elias Koteas) who appears to be in an almost cardboard cut-out of an existence. He lives with his semi-estranged wife (Arsinee Khanjian) in an ersatz model home whose interiors are half fake, her sister and a small boy. His time is consumed making calls on victims of fires, all of whom he places at a typical multi-colored door motel, spouting canned bits of comfort and wisdom to them as their claims continue unpaid for an extremely long period of time. Koteas' character seems obsessed with making time stand still, in a way, and it's only revealed at the end the root of his fragile madness.
The real standout performance (and piece of character writing) is in the always great Maury Chaykin's character. Now, I never got that he was an ex football player, and never really believed his name was Bubba, but I guess that's plausible. I merely thought he was another obsessive, taken to the extreme by extreme wealth and boredom. He's the true nightmare version of Koteas' character. Just the mere device of Chaykin and his wife tooling around in their chauffeured Lincoln or whiling away time at their huge mansion, always in search of some illusory delusion of normalcy and happiness was enough to hook me into this. Chaykin's absorption into this character is fascinating to watch. The crux of the movie's themes are all over an outstanding monologue he delivers while posing as a location scout for a movie company. It's all there and rendered indelibly by him. Fabulous actor....just fabulous.
There's a whole other subplot with Khanjian, her sister, and fellow censor Don McKellar that mirrors much of the movie's central theme. It adds to the richness of the jigsaw but doesn't hold a candle to when Koteas and Chaykin are on screen.
As for those who wonder where the plot is --- well, films like this are more thematic and character driven, so you may want to pass on this one if you require a story and get angry when films don't deliver that. For those searching for more, trust me....you'll find it, and then some.
I bought the DVD (I was so taken with it) and then just watched it for the second time tonight. The Adjuster is possibly the most hypnotic and captivating of all of Egoyan's films (if you can get past the over-the-top bizarre factor) simply because you literally need to get to the end of the film to really put it together. And while that was true of other films, particularly Exotica, The Adjuster is a bit more rewarding simply because the themes and undercurrents of the film are so subtle. As with all of this Armenian-Canadian filmmaker's works, it draws its magic out slowly, until it literally has you mesmerized.
It centers around an almost martyr-like insurance adjuster (played with brilliant cryptic understatement by Elias Koteas) who appears to be in an almost cardboard cut-out of an existence. He lives with his semi-estranged wife (Arsinee Khanjian) in an ersatz model home whose interiors are half fake, her sister and a small boy. His time is consumed making calls on victims of fires, all of whom he places at a typical multi-colored door motel, spouting canned bits of comfort and wisdom to them as their claims continue unpaid for an extremely long period of time. Koteas' character seems obsessed with making time stand still, in a way, and it's only revealed at the end the root of his fragile madness.
The real standout performance (and piece of character writing) is in the always great Maury Chaykin's character. Now, I never got that he was an ex football player, and never really believed his name was Bubba, but I guess that's plausible. I merely thought he was another obsessive, taken to the extreme by extreme wealth and boredom. He's the true nightmare version of Koteas' character. Just the mere device of Chaykin and his wife tooling around in their chauffeured Lincoln or whiling away time at their huge mansion, always in search of some illusory delusion of normalcy and happiness was enough to hook me into this. Chaykin's absorption into this character is fascinating to watch. The crux of the movie's themes are all over an outstanding monologue he delivers while posing as a location scout for a movie company. It's all there and rendered indelibly by him. Fabulous actor....just fabulous.
There's a whole other subplot with Khanjian, her sister, and fellow censor Don McKellar that mirrors much of the movie's central theme. It adds to the richness of the jigsaw but doesn't hold a candle to when Koteas and Chaykin are on screen.
As for those who wonder where the plot is --- well, films like this are more thematic and character driven, so you may want to pass on this one if you require a story and get angry when films don't deliver that. For those searching for more, trust me....you'll find it, and then some.