Exótica

Just seen this for the second time. First time I saw it (about a year ago), I wasn't really sure what to make of it, but there were scenes from it (when Elias Koteas reveals why his connection to the disturbed and grieving father and the scene with the father and his daughter's babysitter at the end) that have always stuck in my mind.

A very haunting and beautiful movie (even though it gives a very unpleasant view of life), with a haunting snake charm style score and starring the brilliant Elias Koteas (from "Crash") and the lovely Mia Kirshner (from early first season "24" and "The Crow: City Of Angels"). Victor Garber (Sidney's dad in "Alias") also has a couple of scenes. Not to many tastes but very rewarding if you can appreciate it (although it's sense of detachment probably puts off a lot of people).

It seems to me to explore the theme of people trying to connect, in a very insular and ultimately unfulfilling way (the young gay man who goes to the ballet every night and gives away his "extra ticket" for companionship or the grieving father who pays a young girl to "babysit" his empty house so that he can have the illusion his daughter is still around for example), and also the theme of loss (variously of loved ones, innocence, youth, opportunity etc). The Exotica strip club seems such hollow place but at the same time it seems almost understandable that it would draw hapless souls night after night with nowhere else to go. Some of the dialogue seems poetic, cynical and truthful all at the same time. A film that you really need to watch to the end before you really feel you understand it's puzzle (and even then there seems to be something just out of grasp this viewing). A moving portrait of life that will linger in your mind afterwards.

Wanted to add a quick comment about this film because it took me by surprise. From the title and the late night TV slot I thought it was going to be something cheap and smutty, but nothing could be further from the truth. There's a lot of beauty and sadness in this film, beautifully filmed, full of thought provoking characters and the complexities of life, love and loss. The key relationship between Christina and Frank is played out with great sensitivity, but there's a great supporting cast. A film that is both gentle and surprisingly brutal.

Atom Egoyan is a man who will soon win an Academy Award for Best Director in the next few years. After seeing The Sweet Hereafter, I rented Exotica, having heard that it's the best, if not his most signature piece of work- and WHAT a movie- this movie doesn't let you get away with falling asleep, loosing concentration, or anything like that. It makes you THINK, forces you to go scene by scene in a way that is utterly spellbinding. The nudity is a little shocking at first but dealing with its subject matter, for the 'art', so to speak, it's understandable. One of the best films of 1994, without a doubt.

The way that Egoyan intermingles different symbols, cuts back and forth through time, uses repeated imagery, and, at some points, holds back with severely limited dialogue, paints films that capture what it's like to live and remember and be alive. We watch the film, not knowing throughout the whole thing at least 80% of what the hell is going on during the scene, because we understand that the film is a kind of puzzle that'll be pieced together with time. That sense of unknowing- not knowing everything about the characters, not knowing everything, just yet, of what's happening- makes Egoyan's films, and certainly Exotica, some of the most mentally stimulately movies in cinematic history.

All in all Egoyan should of won Best Director in 1997, not Cameron, and this film definately deserved a best screenplay nod in 1994. I'll leave you with a potent piece of dialouge from the film, via Bruce Greedwood and Sarah Polley-

"Tracey- do you ever get the feeling that you didn't ask to be here on earth?"

"What?"

"I mean- no one ASKED that we be brought here. So the question is- who's asking us to stay?"

Don't be fooled by the soft-porn title or the "sexy thriller" style art on the VHS box and DVD cover. This, like Egoyan's follow-up masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter" is an intricate, elliptical, and tragic look at grief and loss focusing on the people who work at and patronize a Toronto strip club. It's all very literary and symbolic (the exotic creatures of the pet shop being audited by Bruce Greenwood's tax man with a sad secret mirroring the exotic dancers of the club where he finds his solace after hours) and surprisingly emotional (especially at the end). Character development, secrets, and inner truths are revealed slowly and carefully and in non-linear fashion by Egoyan's delicate director's hand. The "exotic" flavored yet haunting musical score is an added bonus. Worth a look if you are in the right mood and know what to expect from Egoyan.

Perhaps Atom Egoyan's most successful film. Egoyan's technique is to fracture a story like a jigsaw puzzle, giving the viewer bits and pieces which only all connect in the final scene. That ripping apart of reality is especially appropriate here, since the movie is about people putting their lives together after terrible trauma. It's also about the danger in leaping to conclusions - the viewer is often tempted to make a judgement about what he or she sees, and that judgement is often both wrong and unfair. If this all sounds like homework, be assured that the movie is also a lot of fun: it's sexy and interesting and inspired.