The Adjuster (1992)

Some things I liked some I did not.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Noah (Elias Koteas) is an insurance adjuster. He sleeps with ladies who suffered lost and Arianne (Jennifer Dale) is the latest one who lost her home to fire. His wife Hera (Arsinée Khanjian) watches movies for the Board of Censors and she secretly films the most brutal. They have a son with Hera's sister are the only ones living in one of the model homes in an undeveloped field. Tyler (Don McKellar) is a new reviewer for the Censors. Bubba (Maury Chaykin) is a pornographer who's interested in Noah's house. There is also a sex pervert stalker.I'm not sure what Atom Egoyan is trying to get at other than bring together a lot of the characters' dark side. The quest for a plot is left to the audience. It's a movie with a theme more than a story. One can really debate the point of each character and their significance. It's great to use modern sexual perversion as a launching off point but I like a story that moves more. It's a bit too slow and therefore feels repetitive with pregnant pauses. It's a movie that feels like it's saying something although I'll be damned if I know exactly what that is.

Anyone who praises this film is kidding themselves. I can't recall ever seeing a film that has aged worse than this. The Adjuster isn't the worst movie I've seen, but it is a completely unintelligible and dull exercise in abstractions, and that's putting it kindly. I can normally enjoy or at least appreciate foreign films, old films, and even experimental films, but I found this film to be extremely inaccessible. It's the kind of thing some no-talent film student would make who wanted to be avant-garde, but who knew next to nothing about constructing a story. It's not just boring; it's so poorly-done, that when it's over, you're just in disbelief that anyone is capable of making something that is such a complete waste of time.

This very quirky film by director Atom Egoyan is about an insurance adjuster Noah, played by Elias Koteas. He is very empathetic to the victims of fires to their homes, and all of his clients end up staying in the same motel complex until their claims are settled (which never happens). A parallel story is about Bubba and Mimi, a rich couple who act out fantasies in public (she befriends him as he plays a sleeping derelict on the subway, she's a cheerleader for the football team-she is not a very young woman). The acting is fine, particularly Bubba, who is played by Maury Chaykin. I've seen him in many other projects, I think he'll be familiar to you. My problem is the story is weird for weird's sake. Who'd want to know these people? They are creepy, and the film becomes creepy. Its cutting edge, but I wanted better character development. I felt it just didn't deliver. If you get the DVD, you'll be rewarded. Included are two things which I really liked. One is the almost 20 minute film "En Passant", starring Maury Chaykin and Arsinee Khanijan, who plays Noah's wife in "The Adjuster". It moves along at a good pace and tells a simple, but good story. The other thing is an interview with director Atom Egoyan. He is articulate and I found he is true to his craft. I also realized he directed the excellent "The Sweet Hereafter". I'd recommend that movie before you touch this film. But, if you see the DVD, buy it for the extras. Check the film out. I didn't love it, but others here did.

First, the one bad thing about this film, its handling of sex. It's crass, and the fact that the lead character's wife works for the Board of Censors and watches a lot of pornography manages to be both pompously self-referential and irritatingly shallow at the same time, as well as leading to some completely unnecessary voyeurism.However, it is bang on in its handling of the lead character. Theoretically unpromising as an insurance adjuster (although Woody Allen makes it work too!), in fact the way in which he interacts with his "clients" exposes interestingly the relationship between people and the service industry (think just how bad or good your bank can actually make your life).Lots of great interior shots and visual invention, too. Even pretty funny in places.