See? Weren’t you promised an episode with this title a while back? We do the fan service pretty well, methinks. (Also, I don’t have an especially good reason for it, but I kind of like the artwork on this episode.)
This time around, “Only Connect” is a rather ironic title, because the films we’re looking at deal with many, many missed connections between people and events.
In the first film, Exotica (1994), Atom Egoyan takes us through a pair of parallel stories, plus a third storyline that actually manages to tie the other two together, even though (spoiler) it’s not concurrent with the other two. In this case the connections are there and it’s up to the viewer to pick up the breadcrumbs left behind.
After the intermission, we’re going to Turkey to see The Edge of Heaven, a 2007 Turkish-German drama written and directed by Fatih Akın. This one will have you confused at first. Then, as the various pieces come together, you’ll get frustrated. But ultimately you’ll settle in and accept the way events worked out. (I think; that’s how it worked out for me, anyway.)
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Put on your rented tuxedo, because we’re going to a couple of weddings. First, from 2001, it’s Monsoon Wedding, an Indian comedy-drama directed by Mira Nair. Although it takes place in India, you’ll recognize most of the drama that happens when extended families find themselves in one place.
From there we’re off to Denmark and 2007’s After the Wedding, a 2006 Danish-Swedish drama directed by Susanne Bier. It’s a complex story about people with complex motivations, and the people affected by them.