Exotica

Just seen this for the second time. First time I saw it (about a year ago), I wasn't really sure what to make of it, but there were scenes from it (when Elias Koteas reveals why his connection to the disturbed and grieving father and the scene with the father and his daughter's babysitter at the end) that have always stuck in my mind.

A very haunting and beautiful movie (even though it gives a very unpleasant view of life), with a haunting snake charm style score and starring the brilliant Elias Koteas (from "Crash") and the lovely Mia Kirshner (from early first season "24" and "The Crow: City Of Angels"). Victor Garber (Sidney's dad in "Alias") also has a couple of scenes. Not to many tastes but very rewarding if you can appreciate it (although it's sense of detachment probably puts off a lot of people).

It seems to me to explore the theme of people trying to connect, in a very insular and ultimately unfulfilling way (the young gay man who goes to the ballet every night and gives away his "extra ticket" for companionship or the grieving father who pays a young girl to "babysit" his empty house so that he can have the illusion his daughter is still around for example), and also the theme of loss (variously of loved ones, innocence, youth, opportunity etc). The Exotica strip club seems such hollow place but at the same time it seems almost understandable that it would draw hapless souls night after night with nowhere else to go. Some of the dialogue seems poetic, cynical and truthful all at the same time. A film that you really need to watch to the end before you really feel you understand it's puzzle (and even then there seems to be something just out of grasp this viewing). A moving portrait of life that will linger in your mind afterwards.

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?

I can't remember seeing a film as intriguing, complex, and beautifully photographed as "Exotica." I nearly didn't watch it because the video cover advertized it as an "erotic thriller" and the image on the front is of Mia Kirchner doing her strip-tease bit. Granted, "Exotica" centers around a "gentleman's club" of the same name, but to call this film a simple erotic thriller is to miss out on a lot, on too much.

"Exotica" follows four seemingly unrelated storylines: a man sitting alone at a table in a strip club, another man smuggling exotic parrot eggs into the country ("Exotica" takes place in and around Toronto), two apparent strangers walking in a field of green, and a young girl who plays a flute in an empty house. Egoyan begins with these vastly different puzzle pieces then slowly, inexorably brings them together.

Atom Egoyan is one heck of a masterful director. He is the epicenter of this cinematic symphony that leads carefully from movement to movement until the finale bursts forth in equal measure of catharsis, discovery, and tragedy. Plot to him is like tapestry weaving. He threads narrative, characters, time, and setting in such complicated iterations that one is at once nearly overwhelmed by the intricacy and awed at his skill, a testament to his brilliance as well as his belief that a film-going audience is actually intelligent.

At it's heart, "Exotica" is a tragedy of circumstances. Or better yet, a collision of tragedies of circumstances. Indeed, the film isn't so much about tragedy as it is about those who survive tragedy and the toll a single event can exact for the rest of the lives of those who survive. Exotica, the gentleman's club, serves merely as a focal point where all these individual tragedies radiate to.

Equally haunting in all this is the music. Mychael Danna's score sets the film's tone: dark, "exotic," deceptively simple but savvier than it lets on. Also worthy of note is the music in the club itself, a blend of American house funk and Middle Eastern tones, warbled in Arabic.

I highly recommend this film. Ignore the naked women who sashay from time to time in front of the screen (difficult as that may be at times) in the scenes shot in the club. The really interesting stuff occurs at the margins of the film, as the gulf separating the storylines begin to vanish, and the final scene gives you the keystone to a horrifying clear vision of a sadness so overwhelming that no one in the film escapes unscathed.

In Toronto is a strip club called the Exotica. Here MC Eric comperes for all the girls including his ex, Christina. One of Christina regular dances is Francis, a tax investigator who has losses and hurts that go back years. The two rely on each other, Francis especially trying to fill the void in his life, however Eric envies this relationship of need and sceptres it. Francis strikes a deal with one of his clients who is breaking the law to take revenge on Eric.

I'm not a huge fan of Egoyan and have often found some of his stuff to be a little inaccessible and occasionally bordering on the pretentious. This is one of my preferred works by him, but that's not to say that it's perfect. The plot here see numerous ill-defined strands that centres not around the club but more around the themes of loss and relationships based on need and baggage. These themes are well brought out even if the back story is pretty weak in most of them. When the strands all come together it isn't a surprise – it has been hinted at all along – but it is a nice low key finish to the tale.

It's hard to judge it as a film because it is too disjointed and abstract to really get into it. It sort of made me want to stand back from it and observe it, rather than get involved – like a picture for example. This distant didn't help me get into the characters but made me watch it from the outside which wasn't as good. The plot is weak but the telling is everything. Egoyan delivers the telling well and weaves an interesting story – told through the characters rather than events.

The characters are delivered well by the actors although some have little to do. Greenwood does very well as Eric and brings a lot out and for my money Koteas is always watchable in anything he does (yes – even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!). Kirshner was too distant for me and I felt that she carried it too long and rarely let emotion touch her. I suppose her character would need to be like that but it stopped me again from accessing the film. McKellar is really a fringe player and the issues with his relationships and his smuggled eggs are basically lost in the mix in a quite frustrating manner. Happily I thought Greenwood and Koteas really held this together and kept my attention.

The film may be flawed and be too distant and cold to be satisfying but Egoyan's telling is good and avoids being arty for art's sake or being pretentious. It is not a fantastic film but it is different and deals with themes not seen often. I found that I appreciated it rather than enjoyed it – that may be the only way in.

Wanted to add a quick comment about this film because it took me by surprise. From the title and the late night TV slot I thought it was going to be something cheap and smutty, but nothing could be further from the truth. There's a lot of beauty and sadness in this film, beautifully filmed, full of thought provoking characters and the complexities of life, love and loss. The key relationship between Christina and Frank is played out with great sensitivity, but there's a great supporting cast. A film that is both gentle and surprisingly brutal.