God bless Kate Winslet.
So many of her fellow actresses of British linage or
association derive their
so-called charisma by glaring poutily into a camera (as
if they're thinking
really deep thoughts such as, "Can I make it to Prada after
this photo shoot, I
wonder?") and maintaining dress sizes that aren't even
whole numbers. While
Winslet does have one of the best pouts in the business,
she's just as ready
with a radiant smile. And, even more important, when she's
feeling Rubenesque,
she goes with the feeling. Her screen presence has a
robust vibrant, generous
sensuality, whereas to contemplate a snogging
session with Claire
Forlani, Cate Blanchett, et al. is to experience an unpleasant
apprehension that you
might get your eyeballs poked out by an elbow.
Winslet's unpretentious
liveliness and bravery as an actress are the two best
reasons to see Hideous
Kinky. And just as an aside: Another reason we love
Kate is that we can't
think of any other actress who would follow a lead role in
the biggest money-maker
of all time with one in a movie that has such a
seemingly unseemly title.
(In any case, it's not what you think.) Directed by
Gillies MacKinnon and
based on a book by Esther Freud, Kinky is the story of
the World's Worst Hippie-Chick
Mom, a woman who takes her two small
daughters to Morocco
circa 1972 to endure awful living conditions, resentful
locals, and other exotic
menaces, all the while seeking a Sufi guru who she
fancies will instruct
her in "the annihilation of the ego." (Interesting that the
source material for
this movie originated with a descendant of the gentleman
who made ego one of
the key words of this century.) By any yardstick at all,
this monstrously selfish
character should be loathsome, but thanks to Winslet's
empathetic talent, she
isn't; her performance, and those of the two youngsters
playing the daughters,
are the truly outstanding aspects of this well-shot and
for the most part moderately
intriguing picture. A film-geek bonus comes in
the form of Pierre Clementi
(best known as the metal-toothed thug who melts
Deneuve's um, heart
in Belle de Jour), who has aged into a quite
distinguished-if slightly
decadent looking-gentleman, and here appears a
mysterious benefactor
to Winslet.
Release Date: April 16, Stratosphere Entertainment