Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Ego Film Arts

Video: Sony Pictures

 

Disc:

Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:41:24.119

Disc Size: 44,065,186,922 bytes

Feature Size: 32,037,617,664 bytes

Video Bitrate: 32.00 Mbps

Chapters: 16

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: October 13th, 2009

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3466 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3466 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Portuguese 3473 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3473 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), English, Portuguese, Spanish, none

 

Extras:

• "The Making of Adoration" (12:00 in SD)
• "Atom Egoyan Interview" section (22:54 in SD)
• "The Violin Shop" (9:42 in SD)
• "The Fabulous Picture Show" (13:50 in HD)
• "Take Three" (20:26 in SD)
• "Passengers" (19:30 in SD)
• Theatrical Trailer (1:52 in HD)
• BD-Live

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: What would you do if you found out your father may have been a terrorist? A high school boy writes a story for class that makes this claim. Is it true? Friends, family, teachers and internet chat-room partners start to wonder and worry. Now he must journey through a maze of family secrets to find the truth about his dead father. From Academy Award-nominated director Atom Egoyan (1997, Best Director, The Sweet Hereafter) comes a story of a young man who must question everything he knows in order to learn who he is and who his father was. Adoration presents a world where there is no such thing as us versus them and the truth is never as simple as right and wrong.

 

 

The Film:

Atom Egoyan is fascinated by the way life coils back on itself. He uses coincidences and chance meetings not as plot devices but as illustrations of the ways we are linked across generations and national boundaries. His characters are often not completely connected to where they find themselves, and bring along personal, sometimes secret associations. These often reflect much larger realities in the outer world.

"Adoration" circles around a central event, or non-event. A report is read about woman who falls in love with a man from the Middle East. His family is in Israel, he says, although I am not sure that is true. She becomes pregnant. He is unhappy at first, but later overjoyed. They seem deeply in love. He wants her to fly to meet his parents in Bethlehem. For business reasons, he must take a later flight.

In an age of terrorism, this triggers alarms, but not for her. What becomes of these people and their flight is not for me to relate now. We see them only in flashbacks. The story presents more than one way that they possibly did meet. The film is about other people in their lives -- before, and after, they met. It is also about how these other people think about what they did, and didn't do.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times located HERE

 

 

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.
 

Adoration arrives on Blu-ray in a pleasing if not dynamic dual-layered AVC transfer. The greatest weakness appears to be the indoor shots where contrast suffers making the image look more faded, but this was probably the production's lighting - not the transfer. Daylight scenes are more impressive with bright colors (ex. grass and the red tow-truck).  The film has some striking cinematography and the visuals show some nice grit and minor grain giving it some healthy texture. It probably looked quite similar to this theatrically. Skin tones seem true.  This isn't the type of 1080P transfer that will knock your socks off but as a representation of the theatrical presentation - I have no reason to believe that it is not thoroughly accurate. I see no DNR or edge-enhancement manipulations and I expect the image advances handily over the DVD rendition.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

The DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3466 kbps easily handles all the dialogue driven film throws at it. There are minimal effect noises and Mychael Danna's score is crisp when, delicately, used. The closing harmonica theme music seems absolutely perfect and sounds crisp enough without range or depth. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

 

 

Extras :

I'd have easily traded all the included extras for an Egoyan commentary to help fill in, or rather push in certain directions, a narrative interpretation. As it stands we get a 12-minute Making of..., a pretty good Egoyan interview for close to 25-minutes, and further discussion with the director for just shy of 15-minutes in HD with "The Fabulous Picture Show". There are segments that features characters in various Internet video chat formations discussing themes of Adoration. We get an HD theatrical trailer and the Blu-ray disc is BD-Live enabled.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I'd say this is a typical Egoyan effort - very emotive with plenty of nebulous details - ripe for post conversation - making no two viewing perspectives the same. I was very interested throughout - he can be a fascinating filmmaker. The Blu-ray appears to do its job well and most fans of the director won't be expecting the more dramatic A/V that one might find in a Hollywood blockbuster. The film is very much worth visiting and the Blu-ray surely is the best way to do it in the comfort of your home theater.   

Gary Tooze

October 13th, 2009