NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (September 2022): Criterion have transferred Atom Egoyan's Exotica to Blu-ray. It is cited as being a "New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Atom Egoyan and director of photography Paul Sarossy". The 1080P image, on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate looks flawless. The visuals are tight, crisp, consistent and show wonderful textures. Without officially comparing I'm sure this 4K restoration advances on the Artificial Eye and Canadian Alliance Blu-rays. 

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master stereo track (24-bit) in the original English language. Exotica establishes much of its mood with the music. There is a score by Mychael Danna (Little Miss Sunshine, Ang Lee's Ride With the Devil and The Ice Storm, Egoyan's Remember, The Sweet Hereafter, Chloe, Adoration etc.) and there is other significant music in the film; Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows frequently playing in the club when Christina (Mia Kirshner) performs, Flame of Desire performed by Studebaker John and The Hawks, Fresh Has Jus B'Gun by MVP, Schubert's Impromptu, Op. 90 No. 4 performed by Atom Egoyan's sister Eve and lastly Sergei Prokofiev's Entrance of the Montagues and Capulets from "Romeo and Juliet". It all sounds as good as it looks in the lossless transfer. Criterion offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray offers the 2012 commentary by Egoyan and composer Mychael Danna found on the Canadian Blu-ray - out-of-print HERE. They talk about the production details, the music's impact and much more. It's quite revealing. Criterion include a 23-minute conversation between director Atom Egoyan and actor and filmmaker Sarah Polley recorded by Criterion in Toronto in June 2022. Calendar is a 1993 feature film by Egoyan about a Canadian photographer (the director himself) and his wife (Egoyan's real-life wife, Arsinee Khanjian), who serves as his translator, and their traveling to Armenia to capture images of ancient monasteries and churches for a calendar series. Unfolding in a fragmented, time-scrambling structure, Calendar is a devastating investigation of identity, memory, and displacement. There are also three shorts by Egoyan; Peep Show in 1981, during his studies at the University of Toronto. In 1991, six of Canada's most talented directors collaborated on Montreal vu par ..., a cinematic tribute to the city of Montreal on the occasion of its 350th birthday. Egoyan's contribution, En passant, conjures a Montreal where language seems to exist only as a series of symbols, signals, and signs. Artaud Double Bill is a short Egoyan made for the 2007 anthology film Chacun son cinema, commissioned for the sixtieth edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Exotica premiered at the Cannes in 1994. Included are brief audio excerpts from the film's press conference - the feature director Atom Egoyan, actors Bruce Greenwood and Arsinee Khanjian, and producer Camelia Frieberg. Lastly is a liner notes booklet with an essay by author and filmmaker Jason Wood (100 Road Movies.)    

Atom Egoyan's Exotica is about a father (Bruce Greenwood) grieving over the loss of his daughter - and his obsession with a young stripper, Christina (Mia Kirshner) who dresses in a schoolgirl uniform when she performs. It was inspired by Egoyan's curiosity at the role strip clubs play in society and the the ritualistic nature of table dances. Egoyan wanted to structure the story mirroring a gradually revealing striptease with the emotional stories of individuals being exposed through the course of the film. Remarkably Exotica had only a $2 million budget. Francis' (Greenwood) car was Egoyan's own 1990 Volvo 240 station wagon. It's a fabulous film about loss, obsession, dysfunction and how people survive in an over-sexualized culture. The Criterion Blu-ray is... perfect and will probably gets some year-end votes. Exotica is such a great film, finally done with deserved justice on Blu-ray. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze