SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

jonathanruano "Exposed" has to be one of the most unusual, different, and unpredictable films I have ever seen. Many of the reviews on IMDb fault this film for having an incoherent plot. I actually believe that this criticism is unjustified, since writer-director James Toback is really trying to make a very ambitious film on the theme of the western world "breaking down" morally, politically, economically, and every other way. Toback, playing a professor in this picture, even makes this point rather banally to a classroom filled with indifferent students. The film then pursues this theme in a very fresh and original way by exploring the turbulent life of Elizabeth Carlson, who is played brilliantly here by the German actress Nastassja Kinski. The beginning of the film shows a terrorist attack and Elizabeth looking indifferently at her literature professor in that order, begging the question of how these two scenes are related. Then over the course of a series of extraordinary (but nonetheless plausible) plot twists, we learn the answer to this question. The end of the film shows Elizabeth gazing over her dying lover in the streets of Paris as the western world, in a metaphorical sense, collapses all around her.Aside from the mostly interesting plot, the strength of the film lies in Natassija Kinski's performance as Elizabeth. She plays this character so brilliantly that we can almost overlook those moments in the film where she delivers poor lines. Rudolf Nureyev's performance as the enigmatic violinist David Jelline is not as good, but he is still very interesting to watch all the same. Now the film is not without its weaknesses. I found the acting of most of the supporting cast to be amateurish and dull, including Toback's brief performance as the literature professor. Moreover, "Exposed" starts out a bit too slowly in the beginning before picking up tempo and becoming more interesting. Yet there were enough unexpected plot developments (including a "violin seduction" that has to be seen to be believed), classical music, and interesting characters to keep me interested right up to the end.

tomsview When I picked this movie out of the sale bin I wasn't really expecting an undiscovered gem, but what a fascinating cast. Like a number of other reviewers, possibly also male, the fact that it starred Nastassja Kinski was almost enough reason to buy it. However it also starred Rudolf Nureyev and that sounded interesting. Also on board were Harvey Keitel and Ian McShane, while further down the cast list was Aussie, Ron Randell in his last movie, and even Bibi Andersson of Ingar Bergman fame. "Exposed" was definitely worth risking $4.99.Of course, buying movies just for the stars is as dangerous as buying them just for the special effects – usually it's like a snack full of empty calories – for proper nourishment; a movie needs a good story. Not that "Exposed" doesn't have a story, it actually has too much story, and it's a pretty whacked one.It's full of ideas that miss the mark, and it's hard to follow. I had to rewind the movie more than once to come up with even a brief summary.Elizabeth Carlson, played by Nastassja Kinski, leaves a Mid-Western college where she has been having an unhappy affair with one of her professors, Leo Boscovitch, an unsympathetic character played rather flatly by James Toback who also wrote and directed the film.Arriving in New York, Elizabeth is discovered by fashion photographer, Greg Miller played by Ian McShane – he sees a great future for that sultry look. She becomes a famous model, and attracts the attention of Daniel Jelline, Rudolf Nureyev's character, a man committed to hunting down a deadly terrorist named Rivas. Daniel also happens to be a world-renowned concert violinist.After following Daniel to Paris, she finds that he has set her up as a lure for Rivas, played by Harvey Keitel. Rivas is obsessed with her from photographs in magazines – thankfully he hasn't created a 'mad wall' with the photos in the best tradition of movie psychos. Elizabeth is in love with Daniel and goes along with his plan. Rivas gets to spout his terrorist philosophy before events come to a head with a shootout on the banks of the Seine.In the end, it's too contrived and too talky; the terrorists may as well have been vampires for all the sense it makes.There is one long scene with Nureyev and Kinski that eventually leads to modest exposure in the bedroom. It's a chance to compare them. According to IMDb he was 1.72m tall and she was 1.69m tall, although in the movie they look about the same height – it could be a case for "Celebrity Heights". He was older, but they were almost a male and female version of the same look – killer cheekbones, smouldering sensuality, hooded eyelids, great lips, a touch of petulance plus accents. They both had lithe bodies and feline grace – after all, the year before she was a sexy cat-person in the otherwise deadly remake of "Cat People".Both performers are low-key. She is good; he is bad – his performance is almost a throwback to silent cinema, maybe he never got over playing Valentino. Anyway, Nureyev will hardly be remembered for his acting.Toback, who had a self-confessed gambling addiction in real life, takes chances with his movies. When he gets it right, such as the screenplay for "The Gambler", he creates a movie that stays with you. Unfortunately "Exposed" is one that doesn't.

JasparLamarCrabb Probably the only movie ever made about a terrorist hunting super-model, James Toback's thriller is not particularly good. It's a snail-paced film featuring Nastassia Kinski as a model recruited by Rudolf Nureyev to kill Harvey Keitel. Kinski is pretty good and looks striking and Nureyev is suitably mysterious. Unfortunately Toback's script suffers from a real case of inertia, the plot doesn't so much unfold as it oozes. Kinski's character is fuzzy and Keitel, who shows up near the end of the film, is really given nothing to do. There is some terrific, very moody photography by Henri Decaë and the film does work as a travelogue of sort of the more seedy parts of Paris. Toback makes an un-billed appearance as Kinski's brusque college professor. Pierre Clémenti plays one of his typically creepy roles as one of Keitel's less trustworthy confidants.

challenger86 When you focus on the aspect "direction", this movie seems to be one of the worst you can watch. The script, the direction, it's a whole mess. A silly story, scenes which are too long... The only positive aspect about this movie is Natassia Kinski.Mr. Toback (adequate name) probably has some influent friends, or is somebody's cousin or something.In this film, I always had the impression, that Mr Toback thinks that terrorism is the worst threat that exists for humanity. More important aspects, like corruption, hunger, inequality, aren't even mentioned. Forget this trash! I had to watch several good movies to start forgetting this crap.