Exotica is set largely in a strip club, presided over by a sleazy, manipulative MC (Elias Koteas), where dancer Christina (Mia Kirshner) does her schoolgirl act for a taxman with a painful past (Bruce Greenwood). An elaboration of the jigsaw structure of The Adjuster, this is another acute dissection of mutual need and exploitation, and of the way people structure their livesoand each other’soaround intrigues and fantasies. It also comes with an added weight of feeling in powerful, raw-nerved performances all round.

Canada, 1994.
103 mins.