Exotica
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Movie Reviews of Exotica
Movie Review: Do it for me, baby!
Summary: 3 Stars
I must admit, this is my first adventure into the dark and disturbing mind of director Atom Egoyan. While I was hoping to be dumbfounded by the end of this film by amazing cinematography and story, I actually lost focus on this film. For some strange reason, this film just didn't speak to me. Perhaps it is because there are handfuls of films with similar themes that have been done so much better. I was expecting a deeply depressing drama by the likes of which I have never seen, instead what I was handed was a cornucopia of bland overdramatic cinema. It just felt like Egoyan was trying too hard. I think he knew what he wanted to accomplish, and the idea sounded great in his head, but sadly when he transferred it to the silver screen, it just didn't seem to match. This was a tough story to watch, and I could tell that Egoyan was having trouble behind the camera. The feeling of continuity, solidarity, and character structure was definitely missing from this film.
To begin, I didn't hate this film. I thought that some of the actors did a decent job in front of the camera giving performances that I had not seen from them before. I am a fan of Bruce Greenwood's work (the little that he does), so it was impressive to see him branch out and explore his acting possibilities. Coupled with the overall depth of the film it did raise the bar a bit, but not far enough for my enjoyment. When Egoyan should have been showing us more of the meat of the story, he instead was overloading us with elongated images of actors crying, wandering, or just muttering off into the distance. I couldn't tell where Egoyan wanted to go with this film. Was it to be something that intellects would grab a hold of because of the conversations, or the drama saps because of the structure of the film? This should have been better defined by Egoyan, but instead we are left with too many clues without enough story.
This is best shown by the ending. When Egoyan was trying to surprise us, it was instead a huge lackluster that forced us to wonder why we waded through an hour and a half of dribble just to seemed shocked by the ending. I agree, I never saw it coming, but that was because no clues were given to me to help me see the ending. I felt that Egoyan was grabbing at nothing, pushing characters together that did not really have to go together. I needed to see more interaction with the characters instead of just what happened with Greenwood's character. When you are looking to make film of this structure, it is always good to not focus on just one character. While one will stand out, it should be left up to the audience to make their decision on whom they like the most, unfortunately, Egoyan tagged early on that Greenwood would be the center of this story. This then caused the other characters to fall into second place and not get the screen attention or development that they deserved. We can see this with the confusing story that takes place. I mentioned this before, but I think Egoyan had a great idea, but could not translate it to the screen. What was the reasoning behind Eric and Exotica's owner's pregnancy? Why did Christina and the owner kiss? What ever happened to Christina and Eric's love? What truly happened between Francis and his brother? These were all questions that were never answered at all during this film. It was as if there was another story before this on and we were not given any of it to see. We needed to see more of the pre-story instead of what was given to us in the end. This would have helped build a stronger ending.
Overall, I wasn't impressed. I didn't think it was bad, yet I wasn't blown away by it. I think that Greenwood is a great actor and did wonderful in this role, but sadly I couldn't attach myself to him because I was too confused with the story. Maybe I am wrong, buit it seemed like there were unanswered questions just left on the table throughout the film. These questions needed answers, but nobody was brave enough to answer them.
Grade: *** out of *****
Movie Review: A very Modest opinion !
Summary: 3 Stars
In all honesty I have seen a lot of phycological thrillers. But in my opinion this one is all looks and cinematography. The only thing this movie serves as a mystery with a simple plot. The movie was designed to make you think there is more to it than there really is. The key to the movie is the flash back of Eric and Christina walking in the field.They drag that flash back all the way to the end of the film,and there's you answer! They could have just made a movie out of the flashback because that is the Plot!And trust me people there is no pot of gold at the end of the flash back! The Girl Christina played by Mia Kirshner,was basically an ordinary girl that was made out to be mysterious.There was nothing mind goggling about her personality. Basically there was 3 guys that had very serious mental problems. Seriously disconnected from reality with an obcession for Christina. But not the kind of obcession you would expect. The club was beautiful but a joke, there was no nudity which really makes the movie unreasonable. A strip club with no stripping? Come on people! When this mystery unravels you will be sitting there like "that was it?" The only thing in this movie that resembled sensuality was when Christina was talking to the owner of the club and touching her pregnant belly. The rest is just whatever I guess! The movie is nice to look at but is very drawn out for what the plot was actually conveying. A real artistic, sensual, surprising, puzzling movie to watch would be Mullholland Dr,and Lost Highway. People that think this is the greatest movie since "Slice Bread" obviously haven't seen alot of challenging thrillers. "Palmetto" unraveled more mystery than this! But over all it did have a feel of sensuality about it I guess it had alot to do with the lighting and the fact that Mia was beautiful. Own this one for the art and the feel of the film the plot is just basic with a few film trick techniques to throw you off.Movie Review: Say what?
Summary: 3 Stars
An extremely convoluted little film by the talented Atom Egoyan that centers around Exotica, a strip club with its regulars and staff.
Do not think that this is in any way a sexy film: it is a sad, bleak and confusing picture.
It's so confusing that the DVD badly needs a director's commentary or some solution to the reverse plot on the disc. Some reverse ploted movies -- like Following -- do include this. (If you want a backward running plot that works and gives you Aha! moments, see Memento.) I don't want to watch the entire movie again to figure it out.
Then, too, because, Mr. Egoyan uses a stable of repertoire players, I kept thinking of their roles in the better, far clearer The Sweet Hereafter.
Basically, everyone has a strange and hidden backstory. Spoilers here: the club DJ is the former lover of the dancer; the accountant cannot accept that his daughter is dead and so keeps hiring baby-sitters. One even says near the end of film, "there's no baby to sit." The last few scenes in the movie reveal the last bits of backstory -- the pre-Exotica lives of the characters.
P.S. If I do read a fabulous plotline explanation of this film, I may want to change my rating. A revelation like "Oh, gee, the pet shop guy is the club owner's son!" I increased my rating to allow for that possibility -- that it's a great movie that I didn't get.
I did watch it again. OK, sad film, filled with small moments of pain and loss. The review here about substitutions is excellent, better than the film itself.
Movie Review: Technique and content don't match
Summary: 3 Stars
The reviewer who put "Exotica" in the same category as "House of Games" and "Usual Suspects" was on to something. The same flashy, self-conscious editing/direction and messing with timelines characterize all three movies. Unfortunately, the emotional throughlines of the character's stories in "Exotica" aren't served well by this technique. For flashbacks, enigmatic characters, surprising revelations, etc. to thrill rather than frustrate the viewer, the characters themselves should be distanced from the viewers by a cynical point of view, as was the case in "Suspects" and "Games".
In "Exotica", Egoyan attempts to draw us into the inner lives and histories of characters who have suffered enormous loss and interact with each other complexly. But beyond that, he really wants us to connect emotionally with these characters (and the fine acting throughout encourages this). A more conventional storytelling approach would have better served his ends, I believe. This may be a case of a very talented moviemaker who can't adapt to the changing needs of his storyline.
Great score, though -- Prokofiev and Leonard Cohen in the same movie. Wow!
Movie Review: Not All That
Summary: 3 Stars
I was disappointed by Exotica. I've only seen a few of Atom's films, but it seems as though he uses the same devices in much of his work (extensive flashbacks only revealed in maddeningly small bits until the end; lighting and film effects; complicated psychological problems of the characters). The story was interesting, albeit confusing at times, but like with Atom's other films, I found myself feeling very detatched and flat by the finale. I had figured out much of the plot by near the end, and instead of feeling like I understood the motivation of any of the characters, I just felt cheated, like I had read a story about interesting people written by someone with very little insight into human behavior. I got the impression that the filmmaker wanted to shock the audience by creating characters with lots of weird hangups but didn't give them the proper emotional life to explain why they did what they did. Anyhow, the film is worth a view, but I personally don't think it's as good as many others do.