Exotica (1995)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Absolutely brilliant

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

I saw this one a long time ago, and remembered a lot of details when I saw it again last night, but not exactly how the story evolved. The ending was quite a surprise, even.Mia Kershner, Bruce Greenwood, Don McKellar - I should name the whole cast, but these three impressed me most - all do a wonderful job under the exceptional direction of Atom Egoyan, a truly unique film maker and storyteller.The main story about Francis gets sidetracked some of the time by the stories about Zoe, Eric and Christina and especially the one about Thomas, or at least it seems to be, but things come together more and more nearing the end.A good 9 out of 10.

Interesting opening credits. Interesting cast. Interesting use of Leonard Cohen's song. But in totality, just above average. The film deals with a set of characters, each having some sort of a psychological problem. Visually strong, but content-wise very weak.This is my first Egoyan film. He has evidently some talent to make a viewer sit up and expect the unusual. But why populate an entire film with problem characters? That's not reality.The most interesting bit was actor Don McKellar who plays Thomas is made to look like the director Atom Egoyan, complete with his glasses. Is that an autobiographical touch?

"Exotica" deals totally with obsession. Writer/director Atom Egoyan does well to get us hooked on his central characters, without knowing why they are behaving as they do. The plot centres around strip club "Exotica" as Egoyan teases out his tale like a striptease, little by little showing us more of who these people are and why.The resolution is perhaps disappointing (like a striptease when all has been revealed), failing to fulfill our high hopes. Best character is Francis, who appears to change before our eyes as the film progresses. It is not really he who changes however, but our perception of him. Likewise we view all the players differently in the end, though some of their motivations are hastily explained, if at all.Fantastic performances wrap up this oft times mesmerising film, with Bruce Greenwood a particular standout as Francis. Mia Kirshner (Christina) and Don McKellar (Thomas) are strong too. Also stars Elias Koteas as Eric and Arsinee Khanjian as Zoe.The exotic score is from Mychael Danna, and Paul Sarossy's camera captures Linda del Rosario and Richard Paris' production design (eye catching at times) well.Monday, November 3, 1997 - Hoyts Croydon Cinema

Comparing this to Uwe Boll's stuff is a bit unfair, but I see where that reviewer is coming from. But, LOL, calling Leonard Cohen a Tom Waits wannabe, that's the funniest thing I've heard all year.The photography in this film almost redeems its many failings, but not quite. I get a lot of chuckles from the gushing reviews from art-house hangers-on; there is a kind of "Art-house cliché" which arises from the deliberate avoidance of Hollywood cliché. This film is full of it. You might call it "anti-cliché". But it amounts to the same thing. I see none of the freshness and vigour I look for in a good indy film.It mightn't be so bad if the plot didn't require so much suspension of disbelief. There couldn't exist a strip club such as this one, it would be just ludicrous.And why doesn't Mr. Egoyan find something else for his wife to do besides "acting" in all his movies? Anyhow, watch this if you've got nothing better on, but expect to be bored rigid waiting for the good bits.