Exotica
Written and Directed by Atom Egoyan
Starring Bruce Greenwood, Elais Koteas, Don McKellar, Mia Kirshner, Arsinee Khanjian, Sarah Polley, Calvin Green, and Victor Garber
As Reviewed by James Brundage
To be quite honest, I expected crap. I often do, being the pesimistic person that I am, but I especially expected crap when I rented Exotica. I would have never done it if it weren't for the fact that Atom Egoyan, director of The Sweet Hereafter and The Adjuster was behind the camera. That and, let's admit it, I'm human.
Of course, knowing that Egoyan was working on it should have told me that Exotica wasn't going to be crap. That it wasn't going to be a simple striptease film, and that it would be close to as profoundly lyrical as The Sweet Hereafter was.
Exotica is a story of the intersection of lives. On the one hand you have a pregnant strip club owner, Zoe (Arsinee Khanjian), on the other, a disturbed DJ, Eric (Elais Koteas). Also in the cast is a seductive stripper Christina (Mia Kirshner) and a father of a murdered child, Francis (Bruce Greenwood). A customs official (Calvin Green) and a man in charge of a pet-smuggling ring (Thomas, Don McKellar) are also in the mix. With the magic that Egoyan has always had, however, he moves all of this into a pattern of coherence.
Their lives intersect, mainly, through the events leading up to and followwing the breaking of the rules at a strip club: that a stripper is not allowwed to be touched. They also intersect with the fact Eric and Christina were the two that found the murdered daughter. You with me? Francis is an accountant sent by the IRS (or the Canadian equivalant) to confirm that Thomas is involved in smuggling, and Thomas becomes his helper in answering a question.
To clear up misconceptions, Exotica isn't a movie about sex. Most people will become so caught up in the sex that they won't notice the vivid portrait of a man so depressed by his daughter's death that he is willing to pay his niece Tracey (Sarah Polley) $20 an hour to babysit a dead child. I did. And, good Christ, I liked it.
The performances are nearly flawless. Bruce Greenwood flexes his acting muscles as he did in The Sweet Hereafter, portraying a character so ripped apart by the events in his life that he goes to obsessive lengths to keep some sembalance of hope. Mia Kirshner does her job so perfectly that we do not see a stripper when we look at her: we see a multifacted character who has a very special relationship with Francis. Eric, Elais Koteas' finest role, is a man who has let his love for Christina turn into an obsession that becomes an inflamed jealousy. Thomas is a man trying to salvage whatever is left of his morals while the world turns insane around him.
The conflicting obsessions are pitted against one another, forming an intriguing mindgame that goes into the deapths of each character as we sit back in awe, watching a truly mythical story unfold in front of us.
Like with The Sweet Hereafter, Atom Egoyan crafts a tale capable of academia, rife with symbolism and haunting images. He drifts us back and forth throughout time, shows us characters that are to be pitied and loved at the same time.
Although I dare not use this as an example in everyday conversation, Exotica is a film that is a striking example of a lack of a villian. The antagonist, ironically, is each protagonist. Each person's personal demons, their problems, conflict with each other. For those who have grown to hate the archetypal battle between good and evil, this is a very refreshing movie to watch.
Let there be several warnings about this film, however. First, those who are very conservative or easily offended back off: Exotica is not for you. Second, those who are renting it for sex might as well not: Exotica does not deliver in that department, and features less nudity that any other strip film I have ever seen. Third, for those who lack a literary mind you should avoid this film: it takes a lot of intelligence to decipher. Fourth, don't watch it after midnight: you won't get it when it's that late.
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