Exotica

Id

Atom Egoyan's film production company is called Ego Film Arts. Exotica, a study of obsessed characters, is heavier on the id than the ego. The characters are driven by base desires as they navigate a tiny universe that connects them to each other. The film's title comes from the name of the strip club that contains most of the proceedings, but the subject matter is obsession. No attempt is made to make this a factual exposé of conditions at such clubs. This focus on the characters is the movie's biggest asset. The story is occasionally confusing, but the characters are always intriguing and believable because they are so very human. The movie omits the ends of story arcs as long as the emotional arcs of the characters have completed. The final scene is actually an interesting bit of backstory, which is in line with the jumbled ordering of the exposition throughout.

Exotica's performances are all good enough to overwhelm the oddities of the story. Bruce Greenwood does a great job of tugging on the heart strings. His character is unnervingly calm despite being at the end of his emotional rope, and Greenwood sells it very well. Don McKellar has an interesting take on a man with too many secrets. Incidentally, he co-wrote Red Violin and Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould with François Girard. Mia Kirshner is required to play three different points in her character's life. That's an interesting challenge in any movie, but Kirshner makes it look easy.