Mjeteconer Just perfect...

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Platypuschow With a cast of familiar faces this thriller/drama goes nowhere fast in fact I'm not sure it goes anywhere at all. Lifeless, dull, ridiculously ungripping and considering half the film is set in a strip joint not even visually appealing! 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.

Christopher Reid I like Exotica for its relaxed atmosphere and pacing. It isn't jumping around trying to be about something or knock you out with unexpected twists. The characters and style draw you in. The strip club Exotica is special. It seems vaguely artistic rather than sordid. It has palm trees and plants, smoke that suggests water vapour - it's a bit like a tropical rainforest. And then a young woman dressed as a schoolgirl comes out, starts dancing, miming actions to the words of a Leonard Cohen song (which also adds a lot to the mood), taking her clothes off absent-mindedly. She seems to be in her own world, not specifically dancing for an audience. It's entrancing especially because of the way it's filmed. 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. She fulfills a psychological niche for him. Maybe it's her eyes, her personality, her patience to listen to him. Well, we find out much more as the movie progresses. All of the characters are somewhat intertwined. It's pretty creative when you think back afterwards. It isn't simply cute, it's not a gimmick or a device to make you think the film is clever. The film could reveal everything from the start and still work similarly. But it's a nice touch to slowly let us find out about the connections.The characters are flawed but in ways that make them endearing rather than annoying. Francis has a calm demeanour which seems to hide inner feelings of regret or sadness. We learn he has been affected by a loss. When police investigate a crime, secrets come out. We see this happen in countless movies and TV shows. But there rarely seems to be any concern for the ways in which these secrets may hurt people. It's funny that major things may be revealed but nobody blinks an eye or apologises because it's all towards the greater cause of solving the crime (usually a murder). In any case, Francis had to endure several unpleasant things. He actually seems to have coped with the ordeal well - he doesn't appear overly bitter. But it's the ever-present reality of his permanent loss that he can't overcome.There is a side-plot which seems less necessary and interesting but I guess its oddness still makes it interesting to watch. And in the end, it still connects back to the main story and maintains the overall mood of the movie. 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. Confused at times, uncomfortable with each-other, saying things half-way between wise and meaningless, spying on each-other, needing things from each-other. There's a nice motif of people watching others through half mirrors (or listening on a recording device). We believe other people have what we need, they have the secrets to fix our life, to satisfy us.This is a movie I need to see again at some stage to properly appreciate. It is satisfying that the plot doesn't really leave holes. Well, there might be motivational gaps in between what we know but we can ponder how and why things happened by ourselves. I guess it's all about understanding and appreciating the characters and this is the kind of movie that rewards your trust and investing your time.

gavin6942 The 'Exotica' is a nightclub on the outskirts of Toronto, where Eric (Elias Koteas), DJ and MC, watches nightly as his ex-girlfriend Christina (Mia Kirshner) performs.Sarah Polley appears in a supporting role, Mia Kirshner takes center stage, and Elias Koteas gives the best performance of his career. Koteas is a great actor, often overlooked or forgotten, or even unknown... and this is a shame. He is incredible, and should be thought of as more than just Casey Jones from the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise.Roger Ebert gives this four stars and even included it as one his "great movies". He is spot on (as usual). This is a dynamite thriller, with a bit of mystery and suspense along the way. If Atom Egoyan had only made this one movie, he still would have had a full career.

Dennis Littrell (Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)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 featured in both movies, consequently the theme must mean something special to Egoyan. 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). His wife, Arsinee Khanjian and Polley were also featured in The Sweet Hereafter.What really makes the movie is Egoyan's use of time and action sequence. He cuts up the chronological order of events and then presents them in a dramatic way. This is not so easy to do. Christopher Nolan in Memento (2000) used the same technique to great advantage. I have come late to such a technique and would love to master it myself. I worked on it last year and a couple of years before. You can't just scissor it and then paste it back together. Something must be gained from reversing the order of events. When Eric and Christina are shown walking the fields in 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 and the young girls is interesting. Christina says she gave something to him and he gave something to her. This vagueness with its unmistakable sexuality is something that always exists between young girls and older men. And, as Egoyan observes, there are rules and awkwardness, and confused emotions. However the girl wants it made unmistakably clear that she is desired physically and just talk is almost never sufficient. She often doesn't know whether she really wants to be "taken" fully, and of course that is usually, shall we say, problematic. Some great subtly is required in handled such a theme, and Egoyan realizes that. His character Francis Brown is content with fantasy and does not touch at all.This film would have found a larger audience except for the title, the theme, and 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 and several write in to say that they liked it. Another poster remarks that women over forty actually liked Exotica in higher percentages than males.I thought the veracious and 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 surprises in 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 and 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 and sit down during the middle of the movie; and 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 and so dies at the end. What is interesting is how he dies, how the actions develops. But in 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 and the murderer was apprehended and convicted. But Francis is left hollow and tries to bring her back in a way by having teenage girls "babysit" his nonexistent daughter. Egoyan teases us near the beginning by showing Francis and Tracey in his car as he drops her off at her home giving her some money and asking, "Are you free Thursday?" Very near the end of the movie we find that Tracey had a precursor in that babysitting role. You might be able to guess who it was.The sound track features "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen.