The temptation to compare this movie to director
Jane Campion's other film "Piano" is too great to
resist ... so I won't. That said, if you appreciated
"Piano" you probably won't appreciate this review. So
bail, before it irks you.
What was great, in fact, really wonderful about
"Piano" was that one lasting image of a full spirited
young woman nimbly massaging the keys of a grand
piano resting it's three legs in the warm gold-sanded
coastline of some exotic land. Wind through her hair,
crystal blue water ... her audience. Oh, and of
course that last shot of her plunging into the ocean
from the boat later. But the in between lacked a
movie. This is my frustration with "Holy Smoke." Only
this time those points of interest rely on an
emotional factor as well as visual. It's as if the
writers had said, "Wouldn't it be cool if we had her
stroke lipstick across Keitel's face?" or "What if
... etc.?" So that the movie as a coherent piece
falls follower to a series of loosely connected dots
that like so many false gods ... don't seem to lead
anywhere.
That said, I really enjoyed the dialogue between
Keitel and Winslet. Winslet plays a "messed up"
Aussie girl that's become a groupie of some Indian
guru. Her folks trick her back to Australia and hire
Keitel (a highly paid American guy with a solid rep
as cult-head breaker). The two finally steal away in
a "Halfway hut" in the outback. This is were the real
drama unfolds. I was liking it. I was intrigued, but
in the end, I felt teased ... because it never
develops into anything interesting, rather it
degenerates into sex. Also distracting, an awkward
humor surrounding Kate's family that never seems to
strike a funnybone; at times resorting to silly
physical comedy ... pretty boy smashes nose into
pole, for instance. The film could have dropped its
attempt at "Fargo" humor and monopolized on what it
did well ... the drama of two hard-headed, vulnerable
people of opposite sexes locked in the outback.
And a theme? I missed it. Was it that this woman
finally breaks down and "Be's kind?" Because of a
series of actions carried out by the supposed teacher
of that lesson, I don't buy it. All the picture seems
to say is "Men are slaves to their genitals and women
are slaves to their emotions." (Not a very impressive
learning experience.)
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