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Exotica

Exotica

1994
Drama, Mystery
1h 43m
The 'Exotica' is a nightclub on the outskirts of Toronto, where Eric, DJ and MC, watches nightly as his ex-girlfriend Christina performs... (imdb)
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Exotica

1994
Drama, Mystery
1h 43m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 65.06% from 807 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(807)
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Rated 15 Jan 2007
77
58th
Great atmosphere and seducement all along. And a catchy phrase: Nobody asked you if you wanted to be brought into this world. You just ended up getting here. So the question is, now that you are here, who is asking you to stay?
Rated 08 Sep 2009
90
79th
I have to say, rarely does a song encapsulate a movie as well as Everybody Knows encapsulates Exotica.
Rated 21 Feb 2012
4
70th
1994: the year of overlapping narrative structures. More than most films, Exotica does a great job of keeping you on your toes, slowly teasing out information that provides greater depth and contextualization to its characters and their histories. Everybody in this film is deeply empathetic, regardless of how broken. Despite their torments, the title isn't ironic; this movie is oozing atmosphere. I thought things wrapped up a bit neatly at the end, but damn if it wasn't a compelling ride.
Rated 17 Jan 2022
8
98th
surprised to find i love it more than ever. the structure should be too calculated, the use of 'everybody knows' should be too cute, characters like the egg-smuggling pet shop owner are like something out of a goofy made-for-TV procedural... so why is it so good? partly because exactly the right amount of information is provided, but mostly it's that the pain is so palpable even the dances throb with it. the scene behind the club gets me by the intestines.
Rated 12 Mar 2012
85
81st
Took a while to click, where all that kept me going was the excellent atmosphere. It reveals all these loose plot strings and characters with unknown motivations and trusts you'll give it a chance to reveal itself. Once everything starts coming together it's a sight to behold. There's an interesting contrast of detachment and warmth in the various character relationships that starts off as an undercurrent and eventually becomes the main thrust of the film which I thought was very well done.
Rated 23 Apr 2014
89
91st
Slow, dark, hypnotic with great soundtrack. Composer: Mychael Danna See also Crash (1996) by David Cronenberg
Rated 05 May 2009
92
96th
A poetic tribute by atom egoyan to "everybody knows" by the great poet "leonard cohen". fascinating....
Rated 30 Sep 2020
60
21st
Atanamamış David Lynch, Varoluşçu Shyamalan. Atom Egoyan’ın setleri o kadar stilize, diyalogları o kadar ‘egzantrik’ ki gözlerinizi kapattığınızda yer yer kendinizi “the room” seyretmediğinize inandırmanız gerekiyor. Vasat dramaturji de cabası.
Rated 16 Nov 2007
85
66th
A fantastic film with extremely complicated characters and an excellent screenplay. Mia Kirshner is amazing.
Rated 16 Mar 2009
85
73rd
Atom Egoyan being Atom Egoyan. The structure and some of the acting was pretty great.
Rated 14 Sep 2008
77
89th
Great. Characters are interesting and the film plays out really well - intense & involving. Somewhat depressive and unsettling but you won't regret watching it
Rated 14 Aug 2007
35
19th
Score based on distant memory.
Rated 27 Jan 2011
78
74th
Takes a while to really get going, but once the connections between the flawed but fascinating characters become clear it proves all that set-up was definitely worth it. Has a cool, brooding atmosphere and a pretty effective soundtrack. Bruce Greenwood really impressed me with his performance.
Rated 26 Oct 2012
68
50th
* Casting, Acting : 7 * Script : 7 * Directing, Aura : 7 * Ease of Viewing : 6 * Naked Eye : 7
Rated 30 Mar 2013
41
65th
I should have watched this all at once instead of over the course of three hectic days.
Rated 05 Apr 2016
78
45th
Well-made and atmospheric but devoid of a plot until the end (albiet a very good one). The disparate character build-up took too long for me.
Rated 16 Dec 2011
88
94th
This is a well made dark drama. There are a lot of damaged characters in this film. If you are a Adam Egoyan fan you must check out this film.
Rated 24 Apr 2008
79
79th
Moody film with a spectacular soundtrack. Near the top of the "seemingly random group of people that are actually connected" genre.
Rated 05 Sep 2017
60
47th
Nice atmosphere, like a nightly taxi ride mixed with an oriental score. The plot is secondary.
Rated 02 Jan 2013
84
75th
The film's low key, subdued mood is hypnotic. Watching it reminds me of being in that comfortable half-awake half-asleep state where everything is both real and dreamlike. Aside from the interesting atmosphere, I liked how the back stories of the characters fell into place very gradually - almost like slowly waking from a dream. Overall a unique, worthwhile experience.
Rated 02 Jun 2007
80
68th
Another of Egoyan's unique little concoctions. I want to buy the soundtrack
Rated 12 Jan 2011
90
95th
Fantastic mood piece. Convoluted and bizarre, but it is also really involving (and unsettling) in a strange way. The film is marvelously shot, with great set(s), a beautiful score and mostly good to great performances. One of the better films I've seen in a while.
Rated 19 Feb 2024
85
94th
The narrative is complex, and slowly brings out a wonderfully nuanced familiarity with the characters. All the same, it doesn't convey a sense of great import, as if the potential to carry significant weight was actively suppressed. But what I really fell for is the beautifully realised atmosphere. It's like a world that was lost in the moment of it's creation. Both exotic and local, contemporary and mythic: the 'baby grand' might relate a plausible metaphor of the film itself.
Rated 03 Nov 2008
35
4th
An authentic Mexican soap opera. Something like a mix between Sex, Lies and Videotape and Closer. Pure shit.
Rated 31 Jan 2012
70
67th
The main reason for me wanting to see this movie was the actress Mia Kirshner, whom I think is one of the sexiest women in the world. And I did definitely enjoy seeing her dance to Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows". However, she wasn't all this film had to offer. It was pretty good actually. It was a well-directed and well-told story. I liked how it dealt with several aspects of sexual desire and perversion. Recommended.
Rated 20 May 2016
90
80th
A hypnotic, perfectly pitched puzzle about identity, perception and the pasts that shape us. The film is driven by routine, and by expectation - images are coded one way, and then revealed to mean something else entirely. The film makes us complicit in our own deception, as much victims as we are perpetrators. "Everybody knows the fight was fixed," Leonard Cohen intones - maybe we do, but that doesn't stop us from going up against it. A haunting, beguiling and ultimately quite tragic film.
Rated 24 Jan 2020
70
37th
Even though the potential of this movie is evident,it left me dissatisfied: the narrative is complex,but not complex enough to make me enthousiastic; the acting is good,but Koteas steamrolls over the whole thing with annoying self-importance,clouding all the actually good performances; the fragmented storytelling kept me interested,but it ends in mediocrity. Lastly, the eerily uncomfortable emptyness of the club and its performances almost made me turn off the movie,especially because of the DJ.
Rated 12 May 2020
54
60th
Seen: 2.
Rated 07 Jun 2020
70
62nd
Great atmospheric locations, but ties everything up a little too neatly in the end. Oh, and ballet is... different, in Canada.
Rated 26 Jul 2020
88
80th
each stylish atmosphere is a caricature within which the strange characters gradually and perilously unfurl themselves to a redemption
Rated 28 Dec 2020
84
97th
Such a (somewhat) under appreciated film, I think a lot of people read the description or watch the trailer and think this is a movie like Striptease, which is nothing like this. This is a well made movie about people and life's struggles.
Rated 01 Jan 2021
80
66th
The style and aesthetics are wonderful. The "Everybody Knows" dance scene is brilliant. The plot is compellingly mysterious to start but ends up kind of clumsy and maudlin.
Rated 23 Jan 2021
95
92nd
I loved the intro soundtrack as well as the other songs in the movie.At first I couldn't understand the story but I got drawn into to its mystery and atmosphere.It's a very personal movie.Even I can't empathize with the lead role's trauma, its one of the very few movies that attracted me with this narrative and cinematography.
Rated 03 Oct 2022
82
69th
Atmosphere and set design create an otherworldly experience that's filled with loose ends. The conclusion draws a bunch of them together, underlining the fact that these people are far more lost than they appear.
Rated 20 Apr 2022
66
81st
Who the fuck strips to Leonard Cohen...?!?!?!
Rated 21 May 2022
60
43rd
You can tell it’s fascinating, but I just didn’t like it by the end
Rated 14 Dec 2022
80
73rd
With an ethereal and almost Lynchian-type atmosphere, Egoyan's step into the erotic genre pays off if you are patient. The overlapping narratives payoff, for the most part, and serve to give a serious punch by the film's conclusion. The music and nightclub itself create a very engaging mood that really made this work for me.
Rated 19 Jul 2023
88
90th
An intoxicating, atmospheric experience with what feels like a perfectly executed vision dealing with themes of loss and coping with extremely damaged, interesting characters all very well played. Oddly, both younger male supporting actors look like a young Robert De Niro. I'm not sure how I feel about the Rosetta's Stone ending. It might have been even better without that explanation, but it was set up earlier in the film and I can't complain much about it.
Rated 03 Feb 2024
65
54th
I really like this stripclub, it's the only stripclub that i found appealing in all the hundreds of stripclubs i've seen in the movies (and the thousands that i've visited). The movie is mostly confusing and intentionally vague. Sometimes it starts to come together and almost gets good, but then hides back in its veil of mysteriousness so my attention dissappeared slowly like air from a flat tire

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