#1150: EGOYAN, Atom: Exotica (1994)

EGOYAN, Atom (Canada)
Exotica [1994]

Spine #1150

Blu-ray

One of the defining independent films of the 1990s, Atom Egoyan’s mesmerizing international breakthrough Exotica takes the conventions of the psychological thriller into bold new territory—unsettling, dreamlike, and empathetic. At the neon-drenched Toronto strip club of the film’s title, a coterie of lost and damaged souls—including a man haunted by grief (Bruce Greenwood), a young woman with whom he shares an enigmatic bond (Mia Kirshner), an obsessive emcee (Elias Koteas), and a smuggler of rare bird eggs (Don McKellar)—search for redemption as they work through the traumas of their mysteriously interconnected histories in an obsessive cycle of sex, pain, jealousy, and catharsis. Masterfully weaving together past and present, Egoyan constructs a spellbinding narrative puzzle, the full emotional impact of which doesn’t hit until the last piece is in place.

103 minutes
Color
2.0 Surround
1:85:1
Criterion Release 2022

Director/Writers

Atom Egoyan was 34 when he wrote and directed Exotica.

The Film

Mychael Danna’s exotic theme.

Exotic dancing. Exotic birds. We have ourselves a thematic concordance.

The top image exemplifies the mysterious nature of the film. What could it be? All is eventually revealed, like puzzle pieces scattered around the table, begging to form a coherent picture.

Made in Toronto for less than $2M, the film looks much more expensive! The actors Bruce Greenwood (Francis) Mia Kirshner (Christina) Elias Koteas (Eric) Don McKellar (Thomas) Arsinée Khanjian [the director’s wife!] (Zoe) Sarah Polley (Tracey) Victor Garber (Harold) are all stellar.

https://tinyurl.com/mwb5xutt 

Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows provides a powerful subliminal, resonating message:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

Everybody knows the war is over

Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

Film Rating (0-60):

55

The Extras

The Booklet

Ten-page wraparound featuring an essay by author and filmmaker Jason Wood.

“Exotica — which achieves a masterly balance of formal daring, narrative complexity, and emotional heft — begins with two Canadian customs officials behind a two-way mirror, watching travelers’ bags being searched at the airport … one of the officers observes, ‘you have to ask yourself what brought the person to this point … you have to convince yourself that this person has something hidden that you have to find. You check his bags, but it’s his face, his gestures, that you are really watching.’ These words are a map to Exotica, which is, ultimately, about looking beyond the surface of a person to see what is going on underneath. They also act as a dependable guide for those who wish to journey deeper into any of Egoyan’s other meticulously constructed, but entirely accessible, labyrinthine worlds.”

Commentary

Featuring Egoyan and composer Danna.

How special to hear it all from the POV of director and composer.

Conversation

Between Egoyan and filmmaker and actor Sarah Polley.

Polley’s involvement in the film came at a crucial moment in her life.

1993 feature film

Calendar by Egoyan, with introduction.

Very interesting piece of cinema. Filmed mostly in Armenia, the churches and ruins we see are mirrored in a wall calendar. Egoyan’s wife is featured.

Short films

Peep Show (1981), mildly interesting

En passant, part of a larger anthology Montréal vu par … (1991). Quite interesting.

Artaud Double Bill, part of a larger anthology To Each His Own Cinema (2007). Also very interesting.

Audio

From Exotica’s 1994 Cannes press conference, featuring Egoyan, Khanjian, Greenwood, and producer Camelia Frieberg.

The usual dull presser.

Extras Rating (0-40):

34

55 + 34 =

89

By Director
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