Exotica

Plot synopsis:
A tax auditor for Revenue Canada, Francis Brown, is a regular visitor at a Toronto strip club called Exotica. Grieving for the loss of his murdered daughter, he always has Christina, an exotic dancer dressed in a schoolgirl uniform, give him a private dance. This inspires the jealousy of the club's DJ Eric, Christina's former boyfriend who has also impregnated the club's owner Zoe. While at the club, Francis pays his brother Harold's young daughter to babysit. However, Francis has no children left and the girl merely practices music alone until Francis returns and drives her home. Francis' relationship with his brother is strained, as the police have told Francis that Harold had an affair with his wife before she died in a car accident, that left Harold a paraplegic. It is also revealed that Francis's daughter was kidnapped and killed, and he was one of the suspects but was later exonerated. The accusation left a psychological scar on him.
In his professional life, Francis is sent to Thomas' pet store to audit books of account pursuant to the suspicion that Thomas is profiting from the illegal import of rare bird species. Thomas has been smuggling hyacinth macaw eggs, and his operation is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Francis is eventually banned from Exotica when Eric manipulates him into touching Christina during one of her dances, which is against the rules of the club. Around the same time, Francis discovers illegal activities in Thomas' financial records, and blackmails Thomas to go to the club to learn Christina's feelings about Francis. In the process, Francis realizes Eric intentionally set out to get him banned, and vows to kill him. Confronting Eric with a gun, Francis is defused when Eric reveals he and Christina were the ones who found the body of Francis's daughter. Christina also reveals to Thomas that she and Francis share a relationship of mutual dependency. In the past when she used to babysit his daughter, Francis would comfort her about her troubled life at home.

Tags: dark, mystery, murder, cult, flashback, romantic, revenge, home movie

Review:
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").
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).
This, like Egoyan's follow-up masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter" is an intricate, elliptical, and tragic look at grief and loss focusing on the people who work at and patronize a Toronto strip club.
It's all very literary and symbolic (the exotic creatures of the pet shop being audited by Bruce Greenwood's tax man with a sad secret mirroring the exotic dancers of the club where he finds his solace after hours) and surprisingly emotional (especially at the end).
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.
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.
'Exotica' is clearly Egoyan's best film and his most successful presentation of the motifs that have characterized his films throughout his career; these include the presentation of the narrative out of chronological order, the interaction of characters by means of videotape and hidden surveillance, the relationship between parent and child, and the repetition of situation and dialogue.
The film's strong emphasis on structure and focus on Thomas' and Francis' parallel 'hunts' for human contact can't help but remind of that masterpiece of medieval literature 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' (this is a work that Egoyan was born to adapt to the screen).
Egoyan reminds us that this relationship can ultimately be extended to include the audience members, who also make private judgments of the film's characters (we've this before in films like Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' and Powell's 'Peeping Tom').
Egoyan's technique is to fracture a story like a jigsaw puzzle, giving the viewer bits and pieces which only all connect in the final scene.
As you watch this film, you wonder how the lives of these characters will eventually impact on each other, and your mind searches for possible explanations.
The last time I was this bored watching a film it was the critically acclaimed Inception (2010) the film that bred a new type of pseudo intellectual movie fan with the moniker of "If you don't like it you didn't understand it" Well I understood that over-convoluted mess and I still didn't like it.Exotica brings nothing to the table, not even a young Mia Kirchner stripping in a school girl outfit could turn this embarrassment around..
The title of the film "Exotica" comes from a strip club where much of the action either takes place or originates from, where dancer Christina (Mia Kirshner) captivates two men, club DJ Eric (Elias Koteas) and accountant Francis (Bruce Greenwood) for different reasons.
Also added into the mix is Thomas, (Don McKellar) an exotic animal store owner who becomes involved when Francis is performing an audit on his books and discovers transgressions there, essentially blackmailing him into helping him get to Christina.Even if I were to provide enough information about the film without concern about spoilers, it would be hard to describe the plot of the film.
"Exotica", while centering on a strip club, is mostly about relationships, (all unhealthy to very great extents) and the evolution of one's character and personality.
The atmosphere of a porno movie is maintained by a fragmented plot with sketchy characters whose only reason for existence seems to be their gravitation towards a certain night club.
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.
In "Exotica," Egoyan finally goes past the techno-theoretical trickery that informs "Family Viewing," "Calendar" and "The Adjustor," past all the Baudrillardian commentary to tell a real story of a man's heartbreaking attempts to re-assemble his world after its savage, random devastation.
(OK, Egoyan doesn't abandon his lit-crit background completely; the elaborate shots of everyone-watching-everyone and/or voyeuristically getting the goods on everyone or/and generally cruising the mise-en-scene will inspire heated recognitions in graduate schools everywhere; but the actual _story_ pulses on bleakly, brilliantly.)  Don't be fooled by its video-marketing as some kind of softcore/action Zalmankingthing: the movie is a profound mystery; it will leave you absolutely demolished..
It's difficult to do justice to the complicated plot and characterisation in a brief synopsis, but the seductive nature of the Exotica strip club is counterpointed by the seductive nature of both fantasy and guilt, as characters try, in different ways, to come to terms with a double tragedy..
Last time I checked the only things strip club DJ's say is "Hey gentlemen, these ladies work on tips," and the only music they play is a collage of 80's hair bands like Ratt.
After seeing The Sweet Hereafter, I rented Exotica, having heard that it's the best, if not his most signature piece of work- and WHAT a movie- this movie doesn't let you get away with falling asleep, loosing concentration, or anything like that.
One of the best films of 1994, without a doubt.The way that Egoyan intermingles different symbols, cuts back and forth through time, uses repeated imagery, and, at some points, holds back with severely limited dialogue, paints films that capture what it's like to live and remember and be alive.
That sense of unknowing- not knowing everything about the characters, not knowing everything, just yet, of what's happening- makes Egoyan's films, and certainly Exotica, some of the most mentally stimulately movies in cinematic history.All in all Egoyan should of won Best Director in 1997, not Cameron, and this film definately deserved a best screenplay nod in 1994.
Through one way mirrors,disparate characters are smuggling things, exotic forbidden things -- birds eggs, lust for lost youth, remorseful compulsion; nothing ever as it first appears -- this film in particular, a virtual clearing house for Egoyan's recurring themes and motifs, I dismissed when it first opened as a SHOWGIRLS for the coffee house set .
It makes me think of time being wasted as we relive over and over again moments in our life which serve to shape and give form to the whole.I believe this film concerns the lengths we go to to retain our grip on our own version of reality; one which we can make sense of and thus live by.
This film seduces you from start to end and touches on some very deep human emotions in a intertwined web of characters.
The movie remains suspended in between hardcore realism and fantasy fiction, which ends up giving it a tone of poetic realism.Thematically the film is primarily about grief, emotional baggage and the lasting effect that sorrow can have in a person's life.
This is where Egoyan lends an air of humanism to the film as he tries to understand why and what circumstance will compel someone to choose to do something morally problematic(like spending every night in a strip club and watching a young girl dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform dance for you) instead of judging them for their choices.Another prominent thematic element in the film is the presence of a constant series of 'transactions'.
But why did Egoyan decide to name the strip club as well as the film 'Exotica'?
In the scenes inside the strip club, what is noticeable is that instead of focusing on the naked dancers, Egoyan devotes a lot of shots to capturing the faces of the male clients who sit at all the tables, one of them being Francis himself.
Since the club gives them an experience which gives the men a relief from their tough realities, it is called 'Exotica' and since the major characters in the film go out of their way to cope with the grim realities of their lives, it is only natural that the film will be called the same too.The primary score composed by Mychael Danna is just perfect as it so beautifully captures the tone of the film.
Bruce Greenwood exudes and lends so much sensitivity to Francis and makes him an absolutely heartbreaking character.'Exotica' is a film about people with grieving hearts who are compelled to engage in transactions and make compromises in order to cope with their severely distressing lives.
This atmosphere carries on as the film introduces entirely different characters going through various challenges in their life—Thomas is a man who tries to find a living by owning and handling a shop with exotic animals, and is thereafter found watching productions of Romeo and Juliet as if he's looking for someone, and Francis is a seemingly ordinary accountant who, mostly every night, visits this high-class strip club called 'Exotica' to exchange conversation with a stripper dressed like a school girl named Christina.The film is like a tease, there are quite a lot of mysterious subplots unfolding around the characters, but it never bothers answering any of them.
How the human nature is unorthodox, and how everything feels so arbitrary until the lives of two people intersect, and in this case, in a classy and jazzy Toronto strip club.There are six main players in this story—Thomas, Francis, Christina, Eric, Zoe, and Tracey.
This is emphasized by the two-way mirror, and as the film progresses, it gradually reveals characters backgrounds and histories thought to be concealed, and by the time it reaches its third act, the artfulness of its mystery hit me in a profound manner as I realized the subjective reasons on why characters did some eccentric decisions during the rising action.
And as the DJ Eric (Elias Koteas) says, there's something mysteriously appealing about the innocence of a schoolgirl combined with an erotic dance (by an adult woman).Her main client is Francis (Bruce Greenwood) who seems solely interested in her and perhaps for something more or other than just sexual entertainment.
It involves Thomas who smuggles eggs and goes to the ballet with strangers who know something about him.I like the way we learn more and more about the characters and they all seem so human.
The title and DVD cover may make is seem like an erotic thriller at first, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth; Exotica is a beautiful, dark, low-key drama that seduces the viewer with sensuality and sexuality but maintains a chilly distance throughout.Exotica takes place in a strip club but isn't at any time titillating.
(The music is simplified, unusual and perfectly fitting.) An amazing story that moves you and keeps you interested till the end.In addition to that, the movie has some nice bonus points: It's sexy (I love Mia Kirshner), intelligent and forces you to think.
Atom Egoyan's "Exotica" is perhaps the most perfect and beautifully intricate film I have seen.
Filmed on a $2 million Canadian budget with his mostly usual staple of actors it explores territory usually left unchartered in the film world.Francis Brown (Bruce Greenwood) is a tax auditor for Revenue Canada who makes nightly visits to Exotica, a local gentleman's club, where he also asks for his favorite dancer, Christina (Mia Kirschner).
The other main character of the story is Thomas Pinto (Don McKellar), a latently gay pet shop owner being audited by Francis.The film is largely about replacements and rituals.
The start shows a customs official looking through a one way mirror at Thomas as he enters the country, later at the strip club the idea of looking is once again entertained, especially when the one way mirrors of the club are revealed to the audience through which Eric watches Christina.In the whole Exotica is a stunning film, and is highly recommended.
The film doesn't ask us to like or relate to the characters themselves, but to basically look at the workings of our minds and souls.
Egoyan's film is very carefully and tightly woven among several apparently disparate characters, and their complete relationships don't fully come together until the final scene.
If you like this type of slick film-making above a great story then you love this movie.
And the way all the threads are (forced to be) connected together makes the film fail from both points of view.Egoyan has made much better movies than this (e.g. Calendar)..
The characters include Francis (Bruce Greenwood) as a Canadian government revenue auditor who is auditing the financials of an exotic pet store (whose owner Thomas is played by Don McKeller) while trying to exorcise his demons at a strip club called EXOTICA.
Certainly on the second viewing it is clear that many clues are provided and that the outcome is being subtly telegraphed throughout the film in a kind of mental striptease.As already mentioned, the really unique feature of this movie is that the viewer does not really connect with the characters but instead connects with the substitution theme.
I still find the film deeply ambiguous and disturbing.I think as a viewer, Egoyan wants us to focus on two characters more than others  Eric and Francis.
Egoyan only hints at why Francis continues to substitute his dead daughter with the erotic dancer Christina at Exotica.
This clouds the murder mystery which the film supposedly resolves via Francis's disclosure.Exotica, I feel, wants us to read deeper meanings in what is presented, but ultimately, the compulsion to read between the lines is what it invites the viewer to do, however, final or revealing, the end might be..
Didn't really understand or appreciate this film, but though I kept checking my watch, I got sucked in sufficiently so that I wanted to find out "what happened in the end".If I summarise the main characters in this film it will express what I understood and provide a background for a conclusion: * Christine, the exotic dancer cum stripper who dresses as a schoolgirl and does lap dances for patrons at the gentlemen's club, Exotica* Eric, Christine's jealous ex-lover and DJ/MC at the Exotica.
Exotica has a good story and is told to maximum effect, but after thinking about it the final segment is that this movie does not further our knowledge of our world beyond what we already know.
It's those kinds of twists and turns that keep one off balance, just like Eric's (Elias Koteas) set up to get Francis thrown out of the Club Exotica.
You never really know which way the story is heading until the very last scene, and the payoff is distressingly sad and depressing for the film's principal character, who's unable to reconcile his conflicted emotions over the loss of a daughter and wife in unrelated circumstances.
I 'll begin with a quick summary spoiler free and then the details full of spoilers...Well well well Atom Egoyan has a reputation for making good films although I don't recall seeing any movie of his and I said to myself let's give it a try....Boy I was in for a surprise!!
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..
This is a must see for indie purists, film buffs in general and for people who like movies about life, emotion, and the human soul.
Good, carrying music by Danna, although not as emotional as his Sweet Hereafter score.Egoyan's work is similar to Leigh's in its glance at the intricate lives of full characters, and this film continues this gravitational style.
In this film Egoyan fails the audience in not even giving veiled reasons for his characters situations.
He is a most talented and 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), and Mia Kirshner, (Christina, the exotic dancer).