The Good: Soundtrack, Scenery
The Bad: Characters, Acting, Absence of plot, Direction, Script
The Basics: Outside a strong, interesting soundtrack and good scenery - when the camera actually stays on it long enough - Hideous Kinky is a slow-paced film that is dreadfully dull and goes nowhere.
Loud, Annoying, Confusing. Those three words almost perfectly describe the bulk of the film Hideous Kinky. It's hard to enjoy this film if you don't like kids, though it's not a kid's movie.
In the most comprehensive and comprehensible terms, Hideous Kinky is about Julia, an Englishwoman living in Morocco in 1972. She is accompanied most of her time by her daughters from an English poet, named Bea and Lucy. Also along for the first half is the Moroccan Bilal, who leaves the group after feeding the women bad sardines. Julia, if I gather correctly from the film, has become a Sufi. Part of this conversion is a journey of enlightenment in the search of another world without pain. For Julia's character, this means abandoning Bea, making a physical journey, and meeting an apparent leader of the Sufis.
Julia, not the religion, seems awfully irresponsible. Unfortunately, her zealous quest for Sufi-ism is so erratically told that it's unclear where her devotion ends and her personality begins. I reasoned it was a defect of her character and not a part of her religious journey that led her to irresponsibility. A perfect example of her uncaring selfishness occurs on her journey. While traveling, she meets another British person, who she picks up. When they hitch a ride with another guy, who falls asleep at the wheel, she takes Lucy and leaves, without uttering a single word to the guy she previously rescued. He watches her go with a look of such shock and bewilderment on his face. I felt similar.
The film is riddled with annoying character contradictions, mostly surrounding Julia. Julia has nightmares about losing her children in Morocco. So, it's rather improbable that she would abandon Bea with people she hardly knows. Moreover, it's not much of a surprise when she returns from her spiritual journey to find Bea missing from where she was supposed to be. Bummer that; I suppose she shouldn't have left her there, eh? Moreover, and perhaps it's my equal dislike of irresponsible parents and children at all that makes me say this, but wouldn't a parent with a mortal fear of losing one's child try to find out about the person she was leaving her daughter with? I mean, if I was converting to Sufi, I'd be pretty hesitant to leave my daughter with a Christian fundamentalist missionary. Of course, defenders of this film will say "She didn't know she was a Christian fundamentalist missionary!" I did; she was dressed differently from everyone else and spoke with condescendence, etc. So, anyone with a clue would figure out this person was different. Perhaps I'm sick of films about people who don't have a clue. Sigh.
The most character in the film comes from Bea, who is obsessed with the idea of going to school. She's the one abandoned by Julia and she is allowed to study at a Christian school.
Bilal returns mid-film, reasons unknown. He's gotten a job and it's convenient that he reappears and then Bea falls ill. It gives Julia a chance to run around screaming.
The film is so listless as to be pointless. There is no great journey of character, the best actors are the children who play Bea and Lucy and the pace is dreadfully slow. Unfortunately, the camera does not always mirror the pace. Whenever there is action, the camera does quick cuts that make things like Julia fighting a neighbor over a pair of stolen pants almost indecipherable.
As for the acting of Kate Winslet, it is about as competent as the script. I was amused by one of the other reviewer's observations that we get to see her breasts again. Yippee. It doesn't make up for her acting. She doesn't rise above what is written and adequately fits the character who is flighty and irresponsible.
Apparently, somewhere along the line, I missed where Julia actually achieves enlightenment. She whines to the Sufi about how she still loves her husband unseen, yet makes no immediate plans to return to England to him. In fact, given the opportunity, she defers the decision to her children. Never, in my view, a terribly bright option. There is a reason parents are parents and children are children.
This film tends to blur that by having such a selfish, irresponsible parent with children, while occasionally reckless, are precocious (I finally looked that word up; it didn't mean what I thought it meant. I always thought it was "spontaneous," but it's actually "matured before one's time." So a precocious child is actually a more mature child. Good to know.).
My favorite moment of the movie was when the closing credits began. At least, that made sense.
For other period dramas, please check out my reviews of:
Titanic
All The King's Men
The Men Who Stare At Goats
1.5/10
For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment