Film review by Kevin Patterson
EXOTICA Rating: ***1/2 (out of four) R, 1995 Director: Atom Egoyan Screenplay: Atom Egoyan Producers: Atom Egoyan & Camelia Frieberg Starring Cast: Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirshner, Elias Koteas, Don McKellar, Arsinee Khanjian
Atom Egoyan's EXOTICA is a thoroughly peculiar film that finds success in its complete lack of regard for traditional narrative structure. To say that it focuses on character development rather than plot is an understatement. This is a film that literally *is* character development: it starts with what seem to be disconnected episodes in various peoples' lives, then gradually reveals why all of them are doing what they are doing and how it all fits together. (What little plot there is, incidentally, revolves around a bird egg smuggling ring--now how's that for something you've never seen in a movie before?)
The character who receives the most screen time is Francis Brown (Bruce Greenwood), who goes to a strip club called Exotica every other night to see a dancer named Christina (Mia Kirshner), who comes to his table to perform a private dance. There is a strange connection between the two of them, one that is deeply melancholy and personal rather than sexual, and his visits to the club seem to be their unique way of expressing this. (Incidentally, the promotion for EXOTICA, which touts it as "the first in a series of high-profile strip club movies," could not be more misleading. To be fair, I've never actually seen SHOWGIRLS or STRIPTEASE or any other "high-profile strip club movie," but my impression is that they share little in common with this film, which is devoid of any sleazy exploitation and keeps the nudity to a minimum.) Also falling under Egoyan's microscope are Eric (Elias Koteas), the club DJ and Christina's ex; Thomas (Don McKellar), a nervous pet store clerk who buys scalped tickets to the ballet only so that he can scalp them himself; and Zoe (Arsinee Khanjian), the club owner who inherited it from her mother.
Part of Egoyan's success with EXOTICA is that he manages to engage the viewer in such a certifiably strange web of personalities and relationships. Francis, for example, is not the kind of guy I'd want to hang around with and is severely prone to escapist fantasies, yet I found myself understanding his situation and caring about what happened to him even in his most self-centered or obsessive moments. Even Eric, who seems to be by far the most manipulative of the bunch, comes across as a real person rather than a two-dimensional villain. Through Egoyan's unorthodox, piecemeal method of revealing the characters, events are presented strictly within context, and moments that would have been played for slick sensationalism in other films come across as matter of fact, since they are merely a part of everyday life for these people.
Egoyan is a little less successful, however, with Thomas, whom he sets up as a parallel to Francis at first (both of them are caught up in a compulsive nighttime ritual--Francis at the club, and Thomas at the ballet) but later becomes a device to further the developing Francis/Eric/Christina conflict. If someone had asked me an hour into the film who the second most important character was, Thomas would have been my obvious choice, but he eventually recedes into the background to make room for Eric and Christina. A half-developed character as expository device is better than a completely flat one, of course, but EXOTICA might have been a little more complete if Egoyan had found a way to make Thomas a more integral part of the conflicts and personalities that drive the film.
The most impressive aspect of EXOTICA, in any case, is the extent to which the characters' lives are revealed to be intertwined. They aren't completely aware of it, but they share a connection that is at once coincidental yet monumental. When Egoyan does finally make it clear, it comes across with genuine empathy and completes the puzzle that he has so carefully constructed. It may not be perfect, but there can be no doubt by the time EXOTICA concludes that it is truly the work of a skilled filmmaker.
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