Strictly Personal

Atom Egoyan’s best work. One of the biggest reasons for me to quit business school and become a filmmaker. It was my secret film that nobody (at that time) had seen or even heard of. When people talked about their great films, I thought about Exotica. I aspired to make this.

I was working at the now defunct 68th Street Playhouse when the movie opened there. This is one of those movies I could watch over and over again. It was made for me at that moment and place in time. It was perfect for someone who couldn’t see it all the way through. Perfect for an usher to steal a moment and watch a scene from the movie.

• Love the structure. Eternally moving. Even now those characters keep in that tight circle.
• The powerful ending. It is not never about the plot as it is about healing and mystery.
• The scene where he sits there in that bare bedroom and turn on & off the light. Damn good. That was me then.
• The space of the strip joint. It was so well established. You wanted to be there.
• The see through mirrors at the strip club.
• Then there are the mirrors in customs, like the strip club.
• The gay relationship was odd.
• The conversation between the searchers. I can’t remember what they talked about but it just has this beautiful sadness. Love blossoming near death.
• Exotica = pets, exotica = sex.
• Perfect casting.
• The DJ’s intro to the girls. “What makes a teenage so enticing” monologue. It is brutally honest and yet introspective. Even today, when I buy fast food, I still remember his line that goes something like “they haven’t been spoiled with fast food”.
• Those haunting home videos.