Adopting a new Mom and Dad

Plot:
Next of Kin is a playful dramady about a young man with an identity crisis. Peter is in his mid twenties and still living at home with Ma and Pa. He has no job or friends and complacently continues to agree with his parents about anything and everything. His parents are having problems however and the family goes to therapy sessions. We hear Peter's thoughts and he explains how he likes to fantasize. He develops a break between two personalities. He explains the difference between "acting" and lying. He denies his life's lack of meaning by "acting" his way through various family situations and inventing complex fantasies. This first manifests itself when he tells the temp secretary he is a doctor at the clinic.

The story really picks up when Peter watches the therapy tape of an Armenian family that gave their son up for adoption 20 years ago. Peter decides to present himself as Detros Deryan and meet his "real" parents. When he arrives, the father continues to have conflict with their daughter, Azah. Peter decides to take the role as both perfect son and family psychiatrist. He bonds with everyone in the family and urges his "sister" to "act like the perfect daughter."

In a naturally believable sequence of events, he reunites the family and celebrates Detros' birthday. "It is a shame you cannot pick your family" he tells the huge Detros family conglomerate. Brother and sister fall asleep together happliy and Mom and Dad wake them the next morning. I won't give away the ending, but it is very likable. There are a few scenes where you will laugh out loud and a few where you will cringe at Peter's "acting".

Acting:
The acting in this movie was very well done, especially the four main characters:
Berge Fazlian as George Deryan
Sirvart Fazlian as Sonya Deryan
Arsinée Khanjian as Azah Deryan
and
Patrick Tierney as Peter, "Bedros Deryan"

Tierney does an exemplary job as a misadjusted young man in Peter and the perfect son, Detros.

Directing and Writing:
This is Atom Egoyan's first feature and he displays some of his recurring themes in this movie Aremenian ethnicity and having characters lead fictional "acting" roles to cover the painful truth of situations. He does a good job displaying the second half of the story, focusing around the Armenian family, but the first half, with Peter's family is slow moving and more cerebral for the casual viewer. Some of the symbolism has been lost on me.

DVD extras:
This is a double DVD that also includes the film Family Viewing, which is a much darker story involving a young man's quest to save his grandmother from a nursing home. To complicate matters, his mother is a missing person and he is having some sort of an affair with his step-mother. His father is very creepy and videotapes everything. This movie is also worth watching, but the darker, more sinful themes are a turn off to me personally. The conclusion is a complete shock. Family Viewing also features Arsinée Khanjian (Egoyan's wife). The DVD also includes a bunch of commentary and rehearsals (pre-rewriting and editing) that I am still wading through.

Also included are three short movies, Howard In Particular, Peepshow, and Open House. Open House is the real winner of the three and is a funny look at a realtor's attempt to sell a dilapidated house. Plus, there is an interesting twist at the end that gives you something to think about.

Lowdown:
Let this be your guide to works by Atom Egoyan. Each of these films is good, I would rate Next of Kin a 5 and Family Viewing a 3.5.