The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One's patience will be rewarded if you make it to the end of the picture. I guess that's my way of saying that it won't appeal to everyone, especially if you quit half way in like another reviewer mentioned, stating that it didn't make any sense. I'd have to agree with that observation, at the half way point it doesn't make any sense. But disparate threads eventually come together, even if some of the elements introduced have no bearing on the story. The film has a creepy vibe going for it throughout and things are definitely not what they seem at first. As an example, I thought Francis Brown's (Bruce Greenwood) relationship with baby sitter Tracey (Sarah Polley) was headed into unspeakable territory, and then we come to find out that she's his niece. It's those kinds of twists and turns that keep one off balance, just like Eric's (Elias Koteas) set up to get Francis thrown out of the Club Exotica. You never really know which way the story is heading until the very last scene, and the payoff is distressingly sad and depressing for the film's principal character, who's unable to reconcile his conflicted emotions over the loss of a daughter and wife in unrelated circumstances. It's safe for me to say I haven't run across another picture like this, at least not that I can recall. Even the title "Exotica" has the effect of misdirecting one's expectations after the fact, as the strip club atmosphere at the center of the story only provides the venue for the story to unfold in a most unexpected way.

Exotica is Egoyan's best movie and the best movie I've ever seen.Exotica raises the question of our existence, what we are supposed to do on Earth as humans. And this as a subtext in a perfect narration of people whose paths come together in the "Exotica".There is no other film that contains such poetic but accurate dialogues. In this artwork, every spoken word has a meaning in relation to the meta-narrative.The very good work with the music motifs and the location, merged with the film dialogues, give the film an atmosphere that is neither sad nor happy, but exceptionally gorgeous and yet earthly.I'm very thankful to see this wise movie.

With a cast of familiar faces this thriller/drama goes nowhere fast in fact I'm not sure it goes anywhere at all. Lifeless, dull, ridiculously ungripping and considering half the film is set in a strip joint not even visually appealing! The last time I was this bored watching a film it was the critically acclaimed Inception (2010) the film that bred a new type of pseudo intellectual movie fan with the moniker of "If you don't like it you didn't understand it" Well I understood that over-convoluted mess and I still didn't like it.Exotica brings nothing to the table, not even a young Mia Kirchner stripping in a school girl outfit could turn this embarrassment around.

This cryptic, psychological drama is centred on a strip club called Exotica. A troubled man visits the club in order to re-enact a psychologically complex relationship he has with one of the young strippers who dances for him every night. The story progresses in a low-key manner until the stories of several disparate characters, including an exotic pet shop owner and the unhappy club DJ, intertwine.This unusual drama is about obsessive behaviour and people who are unable to move on or escape from their past. By the end, with the use of some key flash-backs, it has offered several clues without explaining very much explicitly. But from these we are able to better understand why certain characters act the way they do and are in the position in life they are. It's certainly a fairly intriguing film overall that will reward those who can take the distancing effect of its overly stylised form of acting. It's labelled in some places as an erotic drama but it has to be said that for a film centred on a strip club it's really a very unerotic film. It uses this place as a springboard to explore more psychological issues than physical ones.Certainly not for all tastes but it will stick in the mind of some long after viewing.