235. Guest Of Honour; movie review

GUEST OF HONOUR
Cert TBA
105 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

COVID isolation has been a dissatisfying period in terms of movie viewing because so many of the best ones have been kept back for the full re-opening of cinemas.
In the meantime, films which wouldn't have been box office successes have been filling the video-on-demand schedules.
The consequence is that, with the occasional exception, our film intake has been low quality during the past four months.
Guest Of Honour has been typical - a lead actor of fine pedigree in David Thewlis but a convoluted plot weakens his impact.
Thewlis plays a food inspector who moves from restaurant to restaurant unsmilingly checking to see if they are compliant with regulations.
It then becomes clear that his life has been beset with tragedy and humiliation.
His story is told in retrospect by his daughter (Laysla De Oliveira) to a priest (Luke Wilson) who is about to lead his funeral.
During their conversation, Atom Egoyan's movie unveils her bad life choices as well as her father's.
Accused of abusing her position of authority as a high school teacher with a 17-year-old (Alexandre Bourgeois) and another student, she is imprisoned.
But was she guilty? Her father thinks not and tries to ensure her release and is dumbfounded when she rebuffs him.
Thus, his mental agitation affects his decision-making at work and he takes advantage of the power he holds over restaurant-owners and even their families.
Guest Of Honour is intriguing but its pacing irritated. Put simply, it is too languid, failing to fulfil the potential of its most dramatic moments.

Reasons to watch: David Thewlis in good form
Reasons to avoid: Meanders too much

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? New York City employs about 100 food inspectors for some 25,000 restaurants and although health grades for restaurants are on the rise, tension still exists between inspectors and restaurant owners.


The final word. Atom Egoyan: "I had this cinema club in Toronto about 15 years ago and we had a small bar and were serving food, in the case of a health inspector, very much like with customs officers, it's shocking how much control that person has." Curzon Blog

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