The Story Behind the Viewing. I have a convoluted history of trying to see this movie from start to finish. In Australia we have a government funded channel called SBS that caters to the cultural diversity of Australia. Which is great because it means that all kinds of things that are censored out of commercial channels are included and also that theres a place for lots of Australian shows and movies that you have to work really hard to get access to otherwise, and trashy cinema of the world of course.

I think I have seen about four or five sections of this movie without knowing what I was watching, which gives you an idea of how often its played on the station in the small hours of the morning. So when reviews for a canadian stripper movie called exotica appeared all over the internet, the disused lightbulb in my head gave a flicker and put all those disjointed snippets together.

So at 230 one morning following a 13 hour shift I went to rewind a movie and lo and behold a movie's just starting on SBS, it took me a few minutes to realise it actually was Exotica (shockingly enough: a stripper based movie that doesent start with an exploitation shot) so I sat my butt down and paid attention.

I would advise that this is the best way to watch the movie, tired, slightly pissed and with a very open mind.

The Story behind the movie.

Who

Francis Brown - (Bruce Greenwood) Grieving father, Dillusional, Off-Kilter Voyeur.

Eric - (Elias Koteas) Despondant/Jealous ex-lover, Really sleazy DJ, Surrogate father.

Chrissy - (Kia Kirshner) Schoolgirl stripper, Object of Obsession, Stilted dancer.

Zoe - (Arsinée Khanjian) Club owner, Expectant mother, Benevolent man stealer.

Thomas Pinto - (Don McKellar)Extreme introvert, Bird Fancier, Man Fancier.

Harold - (Victor Garber) Quadraplegic Adulterer, Neglegent Father, General Nice Guy.

Tracey - (Sarah Polley) Tolerant Daughter/Niece, Will humour for profit.

When

1994

But for some reason it feels late 80's which Ill attribute to Nick Cave's vocals (that man is a gritty sex GOD).

Where

Club Exotica and the suburbs and ghettos in the outskirts of Toronto, Canada.

What

There's no such thing as a straight out storyline for Exotica. I would be doing a disservice to anyone who is planning to see the movie if I gave you one. Once you become involved with the characters, the discovery of the events that have led them to be as they are, is why can be Exotica engrossing.

The character arcs you follow throughout the movie involve Thomas Pinto, an extremely introverted exotic bird smuggler who discovers a way of hooking up while limiting the emotional risk via some castoff Ballet tickets. His Pet Store is being Audited by Francis Brown, a damaged man unable to recover from the violent death of his daughter. And it is his story that acts as the focus of the film, and his dependance on some really well maintained illusions.

The first of these is his obsession with Chrissy, the 'schoolgirl' stripper at the Nightclub Exotica, and the second involves Tracey, his niece with whom is has an odd and at first rather suspiceous arrangement to stay at his house in the evenings he goes to the club. Both areof which go out of their way to accomodate him. However while Tracey simply tolerates it, Chrissy seems to be getting as much out of the relationship as Francis. Which raises the ire of Eric, the incredibly sleezy DJ and the ex-lover of Chrissy.

While we dont know why they are no longer together, the pregnancy of Zoe (the club owner) to Eric ups the strain of working with an ex pretty much exponentially, despite the fact that Zoe is never anything but accomodating and kind to Chrissy and even seems to protect her from Eric at some points.

Those are your players and although the story is riddled with flashbacks and tangents it never loses its forward momentum, although the repetition made it a close thing. We see one dance sequence twice and I swear a couple of times Eric repeats the same litany word for word, mind you he was radio trained so maybe thats to be expected. However Im willing to give the Director the benefit of the doubt and say it was used to show that as tumultuous and obsessive as the various situations are, everyone is still in a repetitive rut, and it may be time to move on.

Why

This movie does something that I always appreciate and can forgive all sorts of faults in scripting and continuity (not that I had to in this case), it gives you a feel for the place. You know what the atmosphere feels like from the dingy and enclosed humidity of Thomas' pet store, the ghetto like surroundings of Harold and Tracey's flat and the austere affluence of Thomas' suburb and house. And of course NightClub Exotica really is a world within itself, to me the club itself was almost Burtonesque(as in Tim) with its menagerie of 'themed' strippers (and some that are just plain naked) and the 'observation' room designed for a one time wealthy patron with a voyeuristic nature to observe not only the girls but their clients in seclusion, which is used throughout the movie by Zoe and Eric to keep an eye on the proceedings.

Here I am thinking scalping is illegal but apparently not, the furred and jeweled set seem to have no problem with sashaying past the hourd of rakishly handsome young men basically begging for an available seat to the extent they carry signs showing how many tickets they need, oh and it would appear taht they are all gay, or maybe Canada is just overflowing with sexual ambiguity. Now I worked in a Gay Resort for two years, and almost all of our clientel was from overseas but I cant remember seeing that many Canadians. And I really like Canadians ('cus their like Australians with more snow and frenchish accents) so I would have noticed a surplus. It seems so strange that you just have to assume its taken from a real situation the writer saw at some point and thought "man, Ill have to remember that".

Whats the deal with Erics role, here you have a club which projects an air of genteel debaunchery for the more discerning lecherous Canuck (at least thats how I saw it) and in the middle of it all is an MC that comes off as a seedy, weedy and generally inarticulate little sleeze, who would be more at home in a place that specialised in baked-bean wrestling.

And then you see him in the flashbacks with Chrissy and you can see what it was about him that made her love him. He's intense, interesting and apears to be a pretty deep thinker, not to mention honest, then when hes at the club its like he takes a few slips down the evolutionary ladder. Couldn’t they keep that level of honesty and make it more sexual, hang on a tick, this is a strip club, am I just being naive?

Whoa!

The girl is charismatic! At first I thought that Kia Kirshner (Christina) had been a participant in the Annual Canadian Rhythm Removal Festival. But she is the 'schoolgirl' model of stripper I decided that she would assume the coordination of one (mind you my friends daughter is five and she can out-manouver a Solid gold dancer any day of the week). But the moment she stops dancing and starts talking she owns the screen, you can feel her slipping into Christina's various roles in order to accomodate the people around her, while at the same time letting us see her just under the surface, trying desperatly to make a connection with someone, anyone ... well except Eric, typical female.

I was wracking my brain over where I had seen Eric before so I looked him up, he was Casey in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, how Tubular is that!

Major Complaint

There was a pet store the dealed in rare and exotic animals and all those strippers with all those themes, and YET No Snakes! in fact no reptiles of any kind, now personally the use of our little scaly friends as sex objects has always ticked me off, the least they could do was include one so I could bitch about the stereotype!