Atomist

Atom Egoyan turns 50 today. He's a Canadian director with an Egyptian-Armenian background.

His films are not big budget, and generally not what would be called crowdpleasers. In fact, they tend to be dark meditations, told in a non-linear fashion, about alienated individuals. They'll never get big audiences, but they have a certain power that can't be denied.

His best known film is probably The Sweet Hereafter, a 1997 work based on a Russell Banks' novel about a horrible school bus accident in a small town. (That description alone would keep most people away.)

There's a lot of good work in the film, from Ian Holm, Bruce Greenwood, Tom McCamus and others, but, for some reason, when I think back on it, I'm most reminded of the sad, yearning song--Jane Siberry's "One More Color"--that Sarah Polley sings near the beginning.