Customer Reviews
More of a woman's POV movie than might be expected - By: Dennis Littrell, 19 Apr 2008 
Atom Egoyan's Exotica is an outstanding movie. I have seen Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997) which is also very good. A father's (obsessive) love for his daughter(s) is featuredin both movies, consequently the theme must mean something special to Egoyan. He is a most talented & original movie maker, a Canadian as are his players, Bruce Greenwood, (Francis Brown, the accountant whose daughter was murdered), Sarah Polley, (Tracey, the high school girl), & Mia Kirshner, (Christina, the exotic dancer). His wife, Arsinee Khanjian & Polley were also featuredin The Sweet Hereafter.
What really makes the movie is Egoyan's use of time & action sequence. He cuts up the chronological order of events & then presents themin a dramatic way. This is not so easy to do. Christopher Nolanin Memento (2000) used the same technique to great advantage. I have come late to such a technique & would love to master it myself. I worked on it last year & a couple of years before. You can't just scissor it & then paste it back together. Something must be gained from reversing the order of events. When Eric & Christina are shown walking the fieldsin a long line of people I jumped to the conclusion that Tracey would be found dead. We don't learn that Francis lost his daughter until the film is nearly finished.
The psychology of Francis & the young girls is interesting. Christina says she gave something to him & he gave something to her. This vagueness with its unmistakable sexuality is something that always exists between young girls & older men. And, as Egoyan observes, there are rules & awkwardness, & confused emotions. However the girl wants it made unmistakably clear that she is desired physically & just talk is almost never sufficient. She often doesn't know whether she really wants to be "taken" fully, & of course that is usually, shall we say, problematic. Some great subtly is requiredin handled such a theme, & Egoyan realizes that. His character Francis Brown is content with fantasy & does not touch at all.
This film would have found a larger audience except for the title, the theme, & the milieu. The female audience for the most part didn't even consider watching the movie since, as one woman said, I thought it was just another movie with an older man lusting after a girl half his age. That theme bores women to death. But surprisingly at the IMDb a viewer asks how women feel about the film & several writein to say that they liked it. Another poster remarks that women over forty actually liked Exoticain higher percentages than males.
I thought the veracious & business-like depiction of the exotic dancer club was well done. The very nice side plot with the gay animal importer was just a perfect fit for the main plot. Egoyan wrote the script. It is a great script. So much surprises. It's almost too good. For me, since I have seen so many, many movies, something different, some surprisesin plot,in character,in treatment are always welcome.
And the plot does surprise. Even when the protagonist, Francis waits outside the club to shoot Eric, Egoyan turns the situation on its head by having Eric appear from the side & explain something that changes Francis's attitude toward him.
I am being vague because I don't want to spoil the story. Some movies--most movies I would say, since I go back to the generation that would go into the theatre & sit down during the middle of the movie; & then four or five hours later, realize, "This is where I came in"--in most movies to know the ending or the plot would not spoil the movie. We know so & so dies at the end. What is interesting is how he dies, how the actions develops. Butin this movie to know the plot would take something away.
I think. I'm not sure. Anyway Francis is a tax auditor who lost his daughter when she was less than eight years old. She was murdered. The police initially thought he did it, but he was found innocent & the murderer was apprehended & convicted. But Francis is left hollow & tries to bring her backin a way by having teenage girls "babysit" his nonexistent daughter. Egoyan teases us near the beginning by showing Francis & Traceyin his car as he drops her off at her home giving her some money & asking, "Are you free Thursday?" Very near the end of the movie we find that Tracey had a precursorin that babysitting role. You might be able to guess who it was.
The sound track features "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen.
A Subtle and Beautiful Masterpiece. - By: Dan Adams, 24 Jul 2006 It is hard to review this film without giving too much away. Exotica is,in my opinion, Egoyan's finest work to date. The film is slow, carefully considered & full of mystery. Although the mystery that concerns the characters primarily, is the murder of a young girl, the main area of intrigue for the viewer is simply: who are these characters & how is ensemble cast connected? The film is executed with such subtlety, that you find yourself slowly being drawn into the mystery on a very powerful emotional level. The reviews of Egoyan's films as being emotionally cold & detatched have never made sense to me, as I have always felt as if I was being drawn into a very emotional landscape.
Beautiful, funny (in parts), moving & simultaneously unsettling, Exotica is one of the most unique & provocative film experiences I have ever had. I simply cannot reccommend it enough.
claustrophobic, beautiful - By: Elberry, 01 Mar 2006 This film very skilfully induces a sense of claustophobia, of suspicion & unease. A posh, slightly sinister club: Leonard Cohen's 'Everybody Knows' kicksin as a young woman dressed as a schoolgirl begins her striptease, watched by a disturbingly intense MC, Elias Koteas, & a disturbingly intense accountant, Bruce Greenwood. A heady, worrying atmosphere of lust & obsession, of perverse beauty & terrible need. And from this unlikely cauldron comes a tale of simple redemption, compassion & something of the magical, almost religious resolution of Kieslowski's 3 Colours Trilogy, of Shakespeare's last plays. Highly highly recommended. Mia Kirshner very pretty, too.
Exotica.......... a jewel - By: , 03 Oct 2005 An exquisite gem of a movie, subtle & evocative interplay between the characters & a good soundtrack. Of a particular taste. You'll love it or hate it.
Outstanding - By: , 20 Mar 2001 A beautifully crafted piece of work. Increadibly engaging & very confusing until all the links have been established. Excellent acting ( Elias Koteasin particular) & a haunting, melodic soundtrack.
