Exotica Movie Review

Exotica (1994)

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Written by: Atom Egoyan
Directed by: Atom Egoyan
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Don McKellar, Mia Kirshner, Victor Garber
Rated: R
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Plot
A man plagued by neuroses frequents the club Exotica in an attempt to find solace, but even there his past is never far away.

Verdict
The question from nearly the beginning is how do these characters connect. While this explores loneliness, loss, and the need for connection, I was never invested. It's an interesting idea that generates a lot of questions, but it feels like a film class movie that offers something to study rather than an entertaining movie.
Skip it.

Review
This provides very little context as the movie initially focuses on strip club DJ Eric (Elias Koteas) and frequent patron Francis (Bruce Greenwood). Francis is a tax auditor investigating a pet shop owner.

The movie explores loneliness. Over the course of the movie we discover that Francis is coping with loss, albeit using a method that's unsettling. He lost his daughter and he spends his time in a strip club with Christina (Mia Kirshner). He also pays his niece to house sit, and every interaction he has with her is uncomfortable. He's trying to fill the void left by his daughter.

Elias Koteas plays Eric

Almost the entire movie is an exploration of misery. The pet store owner Thomas (Don McKellar) attends the ballet with random people, buying an extra ticket just to have one to give away and go to the ballet with someone, too scared to make it a real date.

Throughout the movie are cutaways to people to a field. Eventually we find out what that is. It's an event that connects the characters. It's an odd movie that examines people that are lonely and afraid. Thomas is afraid to come out. Francis is afraid to deal with his loss. Francis's relationship with Christina is lopsided. This is her job, but he places an outsized importance on it, using her as a replacement for his daughter which is unsettling in context. Francis is eventually banned from the club and leverages Thomas to go in, recording the interaction. We're not sure why Francis concocts this scheme other than coping with yet another loss. That or he wants some kind of closure.

Bruce Greenwood plays Francis

It's a movie I wondered how it would come together the closer I got to the end as I dissected the characters and their connections. What does it all mean? At the end we discover a connection between Francis and Christina that changes the perception of his frequent stops to the strip club. Francis is trying to hold on to the past. Grief can make people do strange things. Christina and Eric met while searching for Francis's missing daughter.

Elias Koteas, Mia Kirshner play Eric, Christina

With all of these characters, they make a trade off. Christina states her relationship with Francis is one of co-dependency. She's the daughter he lost, he's the father that we can assume was negligent during her childhood. With so much of the movie occurring at a strip club, it changes the tone of the relationships. It's a place viewed as shady, and many people use them to create a fantasy of a relationship and that's what we see in these characters.