Atom Egoyan's "Exotica," a moody thriller set amid a high-class Canadian strip club of the same name, is a dark dream of a movie, a gripping brain teaser that will keep
you guessing. However, "Exotica" should not be confused with lewd body gaming. In fact, Egoyan is so frank about his topic that the plentiful nudity seems decidedly
unsexy. This is no peep show--"Exotica" is among the best revisionist homages to Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" I have encountered. (There's even some clever
wordplay here with that predecessor's oft-quoted, "Are you talkin' to me?") The script, also by Egoyan, is chiefly concerned with somber sadsack Francis Brown (Bruce
Greenwood), an accounting auditor who has lost his wife to adultery and his young daughter to murder. After their departures from his life, he finds his only solace in this
gentlemen's club, particularly in a beautiful dancer named Christina (Mia Kirshner, in a spectacularly aloof performance). Night after night he pays his five dollars for a
private table dance from Christina. Only he does so not as a turn-on, but as a therapeutic necessity. Egoyan's sidewinding screenplay only lets us in on the full resonance of
their relationship in the film's final shot. Another major character is Eric, the manager of Exotica and a first-class jerk all around. His job is to supply a sort of seductive
narration for the many strippers' routines. But he seems to hover over Christina in a spooky way for reasons that, again, we almost come to find out too late. More
slight-of-pen tricks come with the introduction of a reserved pet store owner named Thomas. Though Thomas is apparently gay, Francis coerces him into coaxing more
information out of Christina by having him visit the club. "Exotica" is a fascinating fourfold character study, and writer/director Egoyan's ability to hold our attention in these
dark avenues is a talent previously common only to directors like Scorsese. The film is quite frank (and very much R-rated) without being replete with shock value. But
seldom do we encounter filmmakers who can make the dark side bristle with so much flickering curiosity. The fabulously-talented Egoyan has done so here, though, and in
turn has created the first great film of 1995. With "Exotica," Egoyan transcends the title 'filmmaker' and establishes himself as no less than a mapmaker of the dark and
lonely paths of the human mind.