Exotica (The Criterion Collection) 02/23 Blu-ray (Rental)

One of the defining independent films of the 1990s, Atom Egoyan’s mesmerizing international breakthrough Exotica takes the conventions of the psychological thriller into bold new territory—unsettling, dreamlike, and empathetic. At the neon-drenched Toronto strip club of the film’s title, a coterie of lost and damaged souls—including a man haunted by grief (Bruce Greenwood), a young woman with whom he shares an enigmatic bond (Mia Kirshner), an obsessive emcee (Elias Koteas), and a smuggler of rare bird eggs (Don McKellar)—search for redemption as they work through the traumas of their mysteriously interconnected histories in an obsessive cycle of sex, pain, jealousy, and catharsis. Masterfully weaving together past and present, Egoyan constructs a spellbinding narrative puzzle, the full emotional impact of which doesn’t hit until the last piece is in place. DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Atom Egoyan and director of photography Paul Sarossy, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio Audio commentary featuring Egoyan and composer Mychael Danna New conversation between Egoyan and filmmaker and actor Sarah Polley Calendar, a 1993 feature film by Egoyan, with a new introduction Peep Show, a 1981 short film by Egoyan En passant, a 1991 short film by Egoyan featuring Maury Chaykin and Arsinée Khanjian Artaud Double Bill, a 2007 short film by Egoyan, commissioned for the sixtieth anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival Audio from the film’s 1994 Cannes Film Festival press conference, featuring Egoyan, Khanjian, actor Bruce Greenwood, and producer Camelia Frieberg English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by author and filmmaker Jason Wood