Review of Exotica (1994) by Jennifer A — 19 Apr 2008

Reviews of Atom Egoyan's [i]Exotica[/i] and the Tarantino penned [i]True Romance[/i] below.

[b]Exotica (1994) - 7.8/10[/b].

Director - Atom Egoyan.

Starring - Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirshner, Elias Koteas, Don McKellar, Arsinee Khanjian, Sarah Polley, Victor Garber.

A strip club serves as the main locale of this ensemble piece on broken lives. Francis (Bruce Greenwood) is a taxman who spends most of his evenings at the strip club where he is obsessed by stripper Christina (Mia Kirshner) who used to be a friend of his deceased daughter. Club DJ Eric (Elias Koteas) doesn't like the attention Francis gives Christina, and tries to get him banned from the club. The film also interwines the stories of pregnant strip club owner Zoe (Arsinee Khanjian), a gay pet store owner (Don McKellar) being audited by Francis, and a friend's daughter (Sarah Polley) that reminds Francis of his own deceased daughter.

There is a lot going on here and the film isn't an easy one to follow, but it does reward patient viewers with an interesting and somewhat unexpected finale. It's very much a psychological drama that shows the vulnerability of human beings. It's my second favorite Atom Egoyan film behind the brilliant [i]Sweet Hereafter[/i].

[b]True Romance (1993) - 8.1/10[/b].

Director - Tony Scott.

Starring - Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Bronson Pinchot, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Michael Rapaport, Saul Rubinek, Val Kilmer, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, James Gandolfini.

My first exposure to Quentin Tarantino way back when, it's also the first script he ever wrote. He sold this script and used the money to finance and direct [i]Reservoir Dogs [/i]which actually came out before this film. Directed by Tony Scott, [i]True Romance [/i]stars Christian Slater as Clarence Worley, a socially challenged comic book clerk with a fascination for Elvis and Kung Fu movies. On his birthday he meets prostitite Alabama (Patricia Arquette) and the two immediatly get married. After consulting with the mentor Elvis (Val Kilmer), Clarence is determined to get Alabama's things from her pimp (Gary Oldman). A violent encounter ensues, and Clarence ends up with a suitcase full of cocaine instead of Alabama's things. Clarence sees this an opportunity, so he and Alabama decide to head to California where his buddy Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport) is a wannabe actor. First he stops off at a trailer park to visit his father (Dennis Hopper) to get advice. Unbknownst to Clarence, the drugs he stole actually belong to ruthless mobster Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken) whose goon squad is hot on his trail. Once in California, Clarence tries to arrange a deal on the coke with Hollywood producer Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek).

Probably my second favorite Tarantino related project (behind Pulp Fiction), [i]True Romance [/i]seems as fresh today as it did in 1993. The dialogue is as crisp as Tarantino has ever written, and the film features one scene-stealing performance after another, most notably the memorable showdown between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. Pure Tarantino there! But the script allows all it's actors to shine, and they come through. From Gary Oldman's menacing rastifarian pimp, to Bronson Pinchot's spineless assistant, to Brad Pitt's hilarious stoner guy, we have a plethora of memorable characters. Lets not forget the two leads either. One forgets how cool the young Christian Slater could be, and Clarence was the perfect character for him and Patricia Arquette is a blast as the devoted yet naive Alabama. It may be a dark comedy/action film, but sripped down it's also a romance. A very weird one, but still! Tony Scott changed the structure of the story but left the dialogue intact. Probably the most notable difference in the direction was Scott's inferior use of music. Tarantino is so good at picking the right song to enhance the story whereas most of the music here feels like background noise. Still a blast from the past!