Kodagolian distinguishes himself as a photographer harnessing light to stunning effect, framing landscapes and human forms with a deft eye for composition which carries a semiotic charge. What is evident in these scenes is Kodagolian‘s technical prowess. As much as Kodagolian maintains that ‘the storytelling became exponentially stronger the more dialogue we cut out’, harnessing a sense of ‘visual grammar’ to achieve pure cinematic expression, there are times when even less dialogue would have sufficed.
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The primary difference is tonal: the dynamic between the tense triumvirate in Calendar unfolds in a series of barely perceptible emotional shifts, while in Somewhere Beautiful there is histrionic confrontation and emotional signposting. In the Patagonian scenes, there will be a sense of déjà vu for anyone who has seen Calendar entire scenes are reproduced almost verbatim. The big test for Somewhere Beautiful is whether it can transcend Egoyan‘s touchstone text. One can admire Kodagolian‘s intent to foster spontaneity and individuality, but using the framework of Calendar immediately casts Somewhere Beautiful in the shadow of Egoyan‘s work.
If this sounds like a costly high-wire act, Kodagolian was reacting against the risk-averse, focus-grouped world of advertising where he made his name.
‘Reimagining’ is an unfortunate way for Kodagolian to pitch the film the term conjures images of a committee churning out the latest affront to the legacy of a revered property.Īppropriating such a singular and critically acclaimed work for one’s debut feature is a risky proposition, and Kodagolian utilizes what he learned under the tutelage of maverick director Mike Figgis – the film was made in ‘real time’ without storyboards or a completed script and shot on celluloid. In Somewhere Beautiful, Patagonia replaces Armenia and Toronto becomes Los Angeles as co-writer, cinematographer and director Albert Kodagolian assumes the role played by Egoyan. Somewhere Beautiful bills itself as a ‘reimagining’ of Atom Egoyan‘s 1993 film Calendar a curio in the Canadian director’s canon in which a photographer travels across Armenia with his wife and a local driver, with Egoyan playing a director ‘auditioning’ a series of escorts to find the one who most closely resembles his wife.
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