The Challenge of "Exotica"

There are great movies that aren't well known due to age or reputation, but the ones that always get to me are the ones that are obscure because of their subject matter. In my experience, viewers tend to put their guard up around films that have even a hint of pornographic intent around them. And so we come to Atom Egoyan's "Exotica," which takes place largely in a strip club of the same name, and features several scenes of young women taking their clothes off and dancing. I don't want to downplay the fact that there is sex and nudity in the film, and the director is counting on the audience to react to these elements in certain ways, but there's lot more going on under the surface.

The plot of "Exotica" is told in a piecemeal fashion, where important information and context is revealed gradually, often through flashbacks or fateful conversations. We have to learn about the characters and untangle the meanings behind their actions as we go along. First there's Thomas (Don McKellar), an awkward young man who we first see going through customs at an airport. Then there's Eric (Elias Koteas), announcer at the Exotica club, who sometimes gets a little too personal on the microphone for comfort. He's particularly fixated on one of the dancers, Christina (Mia Kirshner), which worries the club's owner, Zoe (Arsinée Khanjian). Finally there's Francis Brown (Bruce Greenwood), a regular at Exotica, who also employs his niece Tracey (Sarah Polley) to "babysit," though we learn quickly that there's no baby.

Figuring out how all of these different characters connect to each other is satisfying, but the real strength of "Exotica" is in the way it explores and illuminates their inner lives. Though I've made it sound complicated, the sequence of events is simple and easy to follow. It's why events play out the way that they do, and why particular characters react in certain ways that are the biggest mysteries. Like Egoyan's more well-known feature, "The Sweet Hereafter," "Exotica" centers around loneliness and grief, and the way that different people cope. Despite moments of darkness and violence, I found the story to be remarkably sensitive and empathetic. I like the way that this film treats sex work, suggesting that the motives of the parties on either side of the transaction may be quite different from what we assume. I like that the characters are shown to be fundamentally kind and protective of each other, even if they have other motives that can also lead them to also treat each other badly.

"Exotica" has a unique atmosphere about it. The pace is slower and environments are unremarkable, putting all the focus on quiet conversations and private encounters. The club, for instance, is not exactly an inviting place, but you can see why it's alluring to a certain kind of clientele. Everything is low-key, allowing an emphasis on sensuality over raunch, passion over venality. The cheap furnishings and jungle decor somehow only add to the mystique. Christina uses Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" as her theme music when she performs, and the deep, melancholy, baritone vocals seem to reflect the primal subconscious desires of her customers. There's so much sexuality in the film, but the parts that most mainstream media tends to forget about - intimacy, comfort, and no small degree of solace.

The cast is full of familiar faces who do some of their best work here. I can't praise Elias Koteas enough, who looks very close to the way he did in the "Ninja Turtles" movies, but is playing a soulful, damaged man who offers up hypnotic monologues on human nature. Then there's Don McKellar, whose character is hiding multiple secrets behind a shy exterior, and is at his most expressive when he's not saying anything. Bruce Greenwood's Francis is the most enigmatic of the leads out of necessity, and it's difficult to dislike him even when he's in situations where we can only assume the worst. As for Mia Kirshner, I'm surprised that I haven't seen her in much since this film, because she shows so much promise and maturity.

This is the first film in a while that genuinely surprised me by making some terribly brave choices that I wasn't expecting. It's not an easy film to approach, but it provides such a great viewing experience, one I'm a little at a loss to compare to anything else. I found "Exotica" far more rewarding than many of the films I've seen that use a similar narrative structure, such as Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia," and Michael Hanneke's "Code Unknown," for the simple reason that in "Exotica" it doesn't feel like the narrative is a gimmick. And the only reason I can think that it's less well known than those titles is because its surface themes make it seem so unapproachable.

I think it's well worth taking the risk to see for yourself.
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