Update 12/30/14 - 5/8/17: Less of an update and more of a complete article overhaul. This was one my early posts, where I hadn't quite gotten into the swing of things. And my Exotica article's gotta be up to snuff on DVDExotica, right? So I'm replacing .jpg screenshots with .pngs, adding the original Miramax DVD and doing a little basic rewriting.
Update 2/24/20: Again, this being DVDExotica, I feel uniquely obligated to make this page as relevant as possible. And seeing as how there's two competing blu-rays for this title in the world, I couldn't leave this page sitting without both of them. So here we go, the 2014 UK from Artificial Eye's Atom Egoyan Collection boxed set is now in the mix.
Update 9/26/22: Nominative determinism dictates that I update this post with Criterion's new 4k BD restoration of Exotica. Plus, I really wanted to.
You don't hear much about it, but the film was finally able to be wrested away from Miramax's iron grasp for blu-rays first in Canada (Alliance Films, 2012) and then the UK (2013, then repackaged as part of Artificial Eye's The Atom Egoyan Collection in 2014). As Exotica is possibly my favorite Egoyan film (it's a tough call), the Canadian blu was a Day One pick-up for me. And to this day, there still has been barely any reviews or coverage of this disc, so that plus - you know; look at the name of the site we're on - put it on the short list to review here. This is a combo pack, so we've got a DVD and blu to look at here, plus the original Miramax DVD from 1999. And now, it's finally making its US HD debut thanks to Criterion, who've made a new 4k restoration, plus some new special features.
1) 1999 Miramax DVD; 2) 2012 Alliance DVD; 3) 2012 Alliance BD; 4) 2014 AE BD; 5) 2022 Criterion BD. |
2014 AE BD inside; 2022 Criterion BD outside. |
Every release features the stereo track, but the Alliance blu also includes a French dub (with both tracks in DTS-HD), as well as French and English subtitles. And here's where Artificial Eye really comes up short, with no subtitles and worse yet: just the English stereo track in lossy Dolby Digital (despite promising LPCM on the case). It's back to DTS-HD on the Criterion, and we get optional English subs again, too.
There's still no trailer on the Criterion, but that's okay, because they've given us plenty of other treats. First of all, they retain the Alliance commentary, so that's nice. They also include a great new on-camera conversation between Egoyan and Sarah Polley (wait 'till you hear what the original conception of this film was!). And there's an audio commentary of a film festival Q&A with Egoyan, Greenwood and a few others, which is quite good. Often those festival press junkets just consist of insipid softball questions like, "in this film, your character dates a very handsome man. Do you find your co-star as handsome as we do?" But here it's all good questions and insightful answers. Don't skip it.
And they give us several other Egoyan films: the feature-length Calendar and three short films: Peepshow, En Passant and Artaud Double Bill. The first three are all already covered on my Atom Egoyan Collection page, which I've updated to include these new transfers. But in brief, if you don't feel like clicking over, En Passant is a slight improvement in PQ, Calendar is a slight step backwards (and the audio is still lossy) and Peepshow is virtually indistinguishable from the previous discs. Egoyan also gives us a new little interview about Calendar, which is nice if you don't have the more robust special features the DVD came with. The last short is making its home video debut here: Artaud Double Bill. It's very brief, clocking in at three and a half minutes, originally commissioned as part of a larger anthology for the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. It's about two friends who plan to go see Godard’s Vivre sa vie, but one of them decides to go see The Adjuster instead. So they text each other from their respective screenings, and then the credits roll. It's a bit shocking a film festival would endorse being on your phone in a movie theater, but you can see how mixing the forms of media (one of the girls films a bit of her movie to show the other girl what she's missing) would appeal to Egoyan all his early films. So, you know, it's nothing amazing, but nice to help flesh out our Egoyan collections that much further.
Criterion's release also includes a fold-out insert with notes by Jason Wood of the BFI, who co-directed Formulas of Seduction.
Previously, I concluded this post by saying, "I wouldn't mind Criterion or somebody rolling up and blowing all of these options out of the water with a new, revelatory 4k scan and perhaps even more importantly at this stage, a heap of new extras." And they pretty much have. I do feel like they only came up with a couple new extras, and are trying to cover up that fact by throwing in Calendar, which really deserves its own separate, proper release. I was hoping for a second, more comprehensive commentary, and interviews with more of the cast and crew. But I can't be mad at what we've got. This is a decidedly superior edition of Exotica, and we did get a couple nice, new bonuses. Thanks, Criterion!