Exotica (1994)

IMDb plot summary: A man plagued by neuroses frequents the club Exotica in an attempt to find solace, but even there his past is never far away.

Directed by Atom Egoyan. Starring Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Don McKellar, and Mia Kirshner.

Exotica centers most of its action around the strip club named in the title. We follow the owner, the act announcer, one of the dancers, a frequent customer, and a drug smuggler, who doesn't at first seem to be connected to the story. The story unfolds a little at a time, drawing lines between characters and their motivations gradually, until finally we start seeing how everything fits together. The mystery of it all, surprisingly, doesn't feel as sensationalized as you would assume from the broad strokes of the synopsis. It's almost got the atmosphere of a slice-of-life story, just one with less traditional centerpieces like drugs and strippers and murder. I found myself genuinely involved with these characters and their concerns and wanting to know how things were going to play out for them. The ending holds on to that understated tone, which, again, feels odd to say when murder and intrigue are so much a part of the ending, but it ends somehow... very gently. It's a unique and interesting movie that kept me engaged the whole time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Exotica > Gas Food Lodging

Exotica < Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

Exotica < Timecop

Exotica > Source Code

Exotica < The Fly (1986)

Exotica > White Nights

Exotica > The Three Musketeers (1993)

Exotica < Rabbit Hole

Exotica > The Act of Killing

Exotica > Never a Dull Moment

Exotica > Anna and the King

Final spot: #1443 out of 3515, or 59%.