I watched a phenomenal Armenian film by Atom Egoyan from 1993. Great movie with a wonderful presentation of Armenian churches, and nature. Cameraman goes with his wife (Armenian) to take pictures for the calendar, on which are the Armenian churches. They take a guide, who tells them about the history of these cultural sites. His wife is also a translator. The film is interwoven with shooting staff, and current times when the photographer is thinking about his life. He is trying to establish a relationship with many women, and takes them to dinner . It's always another one. The most interesting shots in the film are the scenes which are constantly appears. The same romantic dinner, scenes starts with a bottle of wine ,and her question, can I use the phone ? Each of them do the same, called their lover with whom they talk for hours, until he remembers his life and trying something to write about it. The film impressed me with its concept.

A photographer and his wife take photographs of Armenian churches for use in a calendar. Their driver, a local resident, expounds on the history of the churches while the wife translates. The photographer becomes jealous of his wife's bonding with the driver.This film seems to have near-universal acclaim, with one exception: a reviewer at a certain Washington newspaper who found the film to be too intelligent for the average viewer. Really? The plot is not that hard to follow, and you know what else? Not all movies need to be mindless entertainment.I applaud Egoyan for making smart, and still good-looking, film. I have now seen most of what he has made, and I can't say he has really let me down yet. Some are better than others, but there are no duds. And this is far from a dud.

Not Atom Egoyan's most 'story-driven' film, but his best from a purely aesthetic/cinematic perspective. His use of non-linear chronology, repeated scenes that slowly give way to understanding, and long drawn out takes that let you really start to feel the moment (how many viewers start to notice the slight differences in the various sheep, or look for their birthdays on the pages of the wall-calendar?) puts this film close to the level of Tarkovsky, Angelopolous, Bresson, etc.While "Exotica" and "The Sweet Hereafter" are, understandably, his better known films (and good ones at that), "Calendar" works even better as the full realisation of theme and emotion using all the elements of cinema working in conjunction.

Coming into this film, I had only seen 3 of Egoyans films but I was very intrigued and I wanted to see some of his earlier work. I ended up really loving this one and it leaves me very excited to see the rest of his films.The first thing to mention about this film is how "bare bones" the production is. Calendar is incredibly minimalist. There are about 4 or 5 camera angles for the scenes in the house... Then there are the static shots of the churches and the video footage without sound, usually with voice overs. With this simple construction and only a few actors he makes a fantastic film that never feels confined or uncinematic.Even more interesting is the fact that the story is really not all that special. I mean if you put it in the right order and told it in a conventional way, it wouldn't amount to much of a film. By taking it apart and telling it out of order, he takes a simple story about marital difficulty and turns it into a mystery film. You quickly find yourself deconstructing everything and piecing it all together like a puzzle. Every line of dialog and even the most insignificant seeming details have some purpose.I was prepared for this kind of structure since I had seen a few of his films already but I can see how a newcomer to his work might take a little time to adjust to it.This is a rare case where the treatment is much more important to the film's success than the content. The fact that it's such a minor story and that it's still so successful is a testament to Egoyan's incredible talent. It's also a perfect case study in how form can sometimes be more important than function or even supersede function completely.The movie is much greater than the sum of its parts. Highly recommended.