My latest MSN DVD column is up, in which I finally weigh in on Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe”. I can’t figure out whether I’m more disappointed in Egoyan for making yet another empty, airless affair … or in myself, for hoping he might finally return to the artful mystery of “Exotica” or even “The Sweet Hereafter” when it’s clear after more than a decade that he has no interest in venturing outside his comfortable ennui zone.
I mean, to be fair, “Chloe” is a modest improvement over “Adoration”, but that’s probably because my expectations were so low when I finally saw it …
Your description of the setup had me wishing Cronenberg had directed Chloe instead. He can do weird eroticism. And I hope the cheesy thriller climax you mentioned doesn’t mean Moore gets sucked up into the sky by aliens…although, again, maybe Cronenberg could have pulled that off too.
No, it’s a different Moore movie — one that few people seem to remember she’s even in.
I do agree with you on the idea that people being sucked into the sky by aliens would improve almost any Egoyan film after “The Sweet Hereafter”. And maybe even that one, given the way it ends …
I thought the sexual tension in Chloe worked, and it’s one of the few films I’ve seen in which Moore isn’t stiffly affected. But, yeah… I’m getting tired of people talking to each other through panes of glass, and I’m still wondering why the son – who obviously can’t play hockey; why does Egoyan have such a blind spot when it comes to that sport? – is even in it at all. He doesn’t even make a decent red herring.
I could really use a sandwich.