EXOTICA
A film review by Edgar Sommer
Copyright 1994 Edgar Sommer
A film by Atom Egoyan (Canada, 1994)
The Exotica is a nightclub on the outskirts of Toronto, where Eric, DJ and sort of MC/animateur, watches nightly as his ex-girlfriend Christina performs. Watches jealously, especially as far as the extra attentions regular customer Thomas (or Francis?) garners are concerned. Francis (or Thomas?), meanwhile and erstwhile, goes through a series of, um, interesting situations involving his pet shop, a gruff taxi-sharing stranger, unexpected tickets to the opera and smuggled eggs of some rare bird.
Multiple story lines unfold in a splendid tangle of cutbacks, forward and backward references and recurring themes, all woven around the Exotica, its customers and the people who work and live there.
What struck me was, in random order:
- The atmosphere in the night club: less sleazy than you
might expect, almost comfortable (don't quote me on this).
- The depth of the characters: ick, what a cliche, but
it struck me. What can you do? The nightclub owner,
for example, I found at times & simultaneously appealing
and repulsive and a black box, and sexy and neurotic,
and I wish I lived next door and we could have arguments
once in a while and take turns watching the kids.
- The ability of several characters to talk about
things, to utter phrases, that would normally have me
squirming in the seat with empathetic shame, wishing I
were somewhen else, without causing me to do so in the
least.
- The light.
- The colors, their cornedness, you know like blowups of
old photographs.
- The music.
- The music! The credits hint that some of it was
recorded in Bombay; I believe it & approve most deeply.
- The plot as such, and manner in which it is conveyed.
I shall not begin to attempt--just go see it.
This is a calm roller-coaster ride of a movie, if that makes any sense to you, visually and plot-wise (plot-wise indeed) and intriguingly and emotionally and acoustically moving.
My wife thought it was quite good, too, thanks.
Rating? What rating? See the most excellent Internet Movie Database at http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/moviequery.html for all that technical stuff.
Track down and enjoy, eddi
--- e. sommer
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