"I HAVE A HIGH ART, I HURT WITH CRUELTY THOSE WHO WOUND ME"
During the great DVD exodus of the early 2000s, most of us packed our collection of worn out VHS tapes away into the back of the closet and embraced the amazing new advancement in movie watching. But even with the advent of Bluray, there are still countless films that have never moved past VHS release and have essentially been lost to history. While some films are deserving of this fate, films like Exposure deserve better. A European/Brazilian co-production, Exposure was the first film to display knife-based martial arts to western audiences. That alone earns it some serious cool points.
....And hopefully some better box art....
Peter Mandrake is an American photographer living in Rio De Janeiro photographing the dark, violent side of the city for a quaint coffee table book he's creating. Peter is a pacifist, but he's clearly developed an alarmingly intense interest in the pain and violence he captures with his camera. His status as a spectator comes to an abrupt end when he is nearly stabbed to death by two Brazilian thugs who think he stole a very important floppy disk (hey kids, remember those???). The trendy thing to do at this point is pack up and get the hell out of Rio, but Peter jumps off the sensible bandwagon and dives head first into the violent underworld to deliver some payback. He seeks out knife fighting master, Hermes, to teach him how to fight fire with fire.
Pictured: FIRE!
Peter Coyote (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) shows a very Liam Neeson-esque quality in his portrayal Peter Mandrake; he's tall, lanky and mild mannered but with some real darkness buried deep down waiting to be unleashed. As Hermes, a master persev (perforate and sever), French actor Tcheky Karyo (Goldeneye, Kiss of the Dragon) brings the most subtle kind of intensity you're likely to see; more than any other character in the movie, he truly seems like he could kill you with minimal effort. These two performers anchor the film while the rest of the cast is rounded out by Brazilian actors who are all competing to see who can chew the most scenery.
This was seriously the 3rd image that came up when i googled "chewing scenery"
There's nothing left to say here....
What's really impressive about this film is it's restraint. Unlike traditional action flicks, Peter is not an unstoppable killing machine after five minutes of training montage with Hermes. Yes, he can protect himself, but he never stops being a bystander in a situation where he's in way over his head; it really ratchets up the tension since Peter could get snuffed out by anybody smart enough to bring a gun to a knife fight. His transformation from a pacifist to an assertive force of vengeance is the most captivating thing about this film, but anytime the story veers away from that, the film suffers. The first two acts are mesmerizing but the film does a faceplant in its final act when it shifts its focus to the Brazilian characters' continuing search for the mysterious floppy disk; a plot point that the audience stopped caring about an hour ago. The irony is, the mcguffin that set such an amazing journey into motion manages to almost kill the momentum right before the grand finale. Even after Peter's final, bloody knife duel, the film can't seem to recover from its third act blues.
Watch this clip. If you aren't hooked by the end.... well, this movie isn't for you.
Exposure has a good setup and great execution but can't quite stick the landing. While it might not be worth it to track down on VHS (because it's available in its entirety on YOUTUBE bootleg) but it's definitely deserving of a remake. Get rid of the odd Mcguffin subplot and focus on the journey of a man who's been pushed to violence by violence and you might just have a hit. There are far less deserving films that got a DVD/Bluray release (looking at you Batman & Robin) and even in it's bootleg form, Exposure is a beautiful film deserving of a potential Bluray release; warts and all.
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