You know Atom Egoyan, right? Double Oscar nominee for The Sweet Hereafter,  sure, but I’ll still make the case for his prior film, Exotica, as one of the best films to ever come out of this country.

Anyway, I programmed Atom’s latest feature Seven Veils at TIFF 2023, and now that it’s finally opening across Canada on Friday, I finally bagged him for an episode of Someone Else’s Movie.

And we knew exactly what film he’d tackle: Jesus Christ Superstar, Norman Jewison’s 1973 screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s concept album turned stage show. Atom had brought it up at our Canada’s Top Ten Q&A for Seven Lives last year, in tribute to Jewison, and even sung a few bars of it for the audience. He’s a little more restrained this time around, which is a shame. He knows his stuff.

And yes, Cara Gee tackled the film in the first year of SEMcast, but given that a full decade has passed I figured Atom’s take would be different enough to warrant doubling up.

You decide! Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts or your podcatcher of choice, or download the episode directly from the web and listen to it on the drive out to the desert.

And then you can get caught up on Shiny Things! Last week I wrote about the new releases of Paramount’s September 5 and Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance and Warner’s terrific 4K restorations of Amadeus and Constantine; of course, if you’re a subscriber you already know this! (And if you’re not a subscriber there’s an easy fix for that.)

Also, if you’re in Toronto and excited about the 20th anniversary edition of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival kicking off this week, my latest piece for Toronto Today may be of interest. Enjoy it!