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Exotica [1995]


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More of a woman's POV movie than might be expected
Review date: 2008-04-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

Atom Egoyan's Exotica is an outstanding movie. I have seen Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997) which is also very good. A father's (obsessive) love for his daughter(s) is featured in both movies, consequently the theme must mean something special to Egoyan. He is a most talented and original movie maker, a Canadian as are his players, Bruce Greenwood, (Francis Brown, the accountant whose daughter was murdered), Sarah Polley, (Tracey, the high school girl), and Mia Kirshner, (Christina, the exotic dancer). His wife, Arsinee Khanjian and Polley were also featured in The Sweet Hereafter.

What really makes the movie is Egoyan's use of time and action sequence. He cuts up the chronological order of events and then presents them in a dramatic way. This is not so easy to do. Christopher Nolan in Memento (2000) used the same technique to great advantage. I have come late to such a technique and would love to master it myself. I worked on it last year and a couple of years before. You can't just scissor it and then paste it back together. Something must be gained from reversing the order of events. When Eric and Christina are shown walking the fields in a long line of people I jumped to the conclusion that Tracey would be found dead. We don't learn that Francis lost his daughter until the film is nearly finished.

The psychology of Francis and the young girls is interesting. Christina says she gave something to him and he gave something to her. This vagueness with its unmistakable sexuality is something that always exists between young girls and older men. And, as Egoyan observes, there are rules and awkwardness, and confused emotions. However the girl wants it made unmistakably clear that she is desired physically and just talk is almost never sufficient. She often doesn't know whether she really wants to be "taken" fully, and of course that is usually, shall we say, problematic. Some great subtly is required in handled such a theme, and Egoyan realizes that. His character Francis Brown is content with fantasy and does not touch at all.

This film would have found a larger audience except for the title, the theme, and the milieu. The female audience for the most part didn't even consider watching the movie since, as one woman said, I thought it was just another movie with an older man lusting after a girl half his age. That theme bores women to death. But surprisingly at the IMDb a viewer asks how women feel about the film and several write in to say that they liked it. Another poster remarks that women over forty actually liked Exotica in higher percentages than males.

I thought the veracious and business-like depiction of the exotic dancer club was well done. The very nice side plot with the gay animal importer was just a perfect fit for the main plot. Egoyan wrote the script. It is a great script. So much surprises. It's almost too good. For me, since I have seen so many, many movies, something different, some surprises in plot, in character, in treatment are always welcome.

And the plot does surprise. Even when the protagonist, Francis waits outside the club to shoot Eric, Egoyan turns the situation on its head by having Eric appear from the side and explain something that changes Francis's attitude toward him.

I am being vague because I don't want to spoil the story. Some movies--most movies I would say, since I go back to the generation that would go into the theatre and sit down during the middle of the movie; and then four or five hours later, realize, "This is where I came in"--in most movies to know the ending or the plot would not spoil the movie. We know so and so dies at the end. What is interesting is how he dies, how the actions develops. But in this movie to know the plot would take something away.

I think. I'm not sure. Anyway Francis is a tax auditor who lost his daughter when she was less than eight years old. She was murdered. The police initially thought he did it, but he was found innocent and the murderer was apprehended and convicted. But Francis is left hollow and tries to bring her back in a way by having teenage girls "babysit" his nonexistent daughter. Egoyan teases us near the beginning by showing Francis and Tracey in his car as he drops her off at her home giving her some money and asking, "Are you free Thursday?" Very near the end of the movie we find that Tracey had a precursor in that babysitting role. You might be able to guess who it was.

The sound track features "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen.


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Reviews


A Subtle and Beautiful Masterpiece.
Review date: 2006-07-24 Rating: 10 out of 10

It is hard to review this film without giving too much away. Exotica is, in my opinion, Egoyan's finest work to date. The film is slow, carefully considered and full of mystery. Although the mystery that concerns the characters primarily, is the murder of a young girl, the main area of intrigue for the viewer is simply: who are these characters and how is ensemble cast connected? The film is executed with such subtlety, that you find yourself slowly being drawn into the mystery on a very powerful emotional level. The reviews of Egoyan's films as being emotionally cold and detatched have never made sense to me, as I have always felt as if I was being drawn into a very emotional landscape.
Beautiful, funny (in parts), moving and simultaneously unsettling, Exotica is one of the most unique and provocative film experiences I have ever had. I simply cannot reccommend it enough.

claustrophobic, beautiful
Review date: 2006-03-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

This film very skilfully induces a sense of claustophobia, of suspicion and unease. A posh, slightly sinister club: Leonard Cohen's 'Everybody Knows' kicks in as a young woman dressed as a schoolgirl begins her striptease, watched by a disturbingly intense MC, Elias Koteas, and a disturbingly intense accountant, Bruce Greenwood. A heady, worrying atmosphere of lust and obsession, of perverse beauty and terrible need. And from this unlikely cauldron comes a tale of simple redemption, compassion and something of the magical, almost religious resolution of Kieslowski's 3 Colours Trilogy, of Shakespeare's last plays. Highly highly recommended. Mia Kirshner very pretty, too.

Exotica.......... a jewel
Review date: 2005-10-03 Rating: 10 out of 10

An exquisite gem of a movie, subtle and evocative interplay between the characters and a good soundtrack. Of a particular taste. You'll love it or hate it.

Outstanding
Review date: 2001-03-20 Rating: 10 out of 10

A beautifully crafted piece of work. Increadibly engaging and very confusing until all the links have been established. Excellent acting ( Elias Koteas in particular) and a haunting, melodic soundtrack.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Bruce Greenwood
David Hemblen
Mia Kirshner
Elias Koteas
Don McKellar

Creators:
Bruce Greenwood (Primary Contributor)
Elias Koteas (Primary Contributor)
Paul Sarossy (Cinematographer)
Atom Egoyan (Producer)
Atom Egoyan (Writer)
Susan Shipton (Editor)
Camelia Frieberg (Producer)
David J. Webb (Producer)
Robert Lantos (Producer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Network
Manufacturer: Network
EAN: 5027626229146
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2005-08-01
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Running time: 100 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1994-11-30
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Hebrew (Original Language)

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