That dastardly devil, Moriarty! I'll see you in prison for all eternity you degenerate old coot. You see folks... Harry here, to tell you that Moriarty LIES! He told me he had a fetish for ancient bearded dwarves, meanwhile he's attempting to abscond with my beautiful Lynn Bracken! Ewwwww, he'll rue the day! I'll stick some sort of free-loader on him and watch him squirm... that worm! MEANWHILE... The drop dead gorgeous Lynn Bracken has filed her very first ever report... this one on the Jane Campion film... HOLY SMOKE. Well... this has been a highly anticipated film back here in Geek Headquarters as Robogeek worships at his Kate shrine twice a day and thrice on Wednesday. However... I'm afraid any movie that boasts Harvey Keitel in a lady's tight fitting dress must be seen for pure spectacle's sake. Just so you can comment upon the train wreck... But now... let me turn it over to that stunner of the moment... oh wait... that old blowhard wants to blow smoke... here's moriaaaarty....
Hey, Head Geek...
"Moriarty" here.
Well, sir, my evil master plan to drive you mad
with jealous wrath is in full swing. I found the
following note on my pillow this morning. I'll be
weighing in with my thoughts on HOLY SMOKE when the
RUMBLINGS FROM THE LAB return this coming Tuesday.
Until then, enjoy.
Greetings from Hollywood, the Land of Broken Dreams. Lynn Bracken here, nursing a terrible hangover. Last night I had the pleasure of a proper "date" with Moriarty. Harry wanted him to keep an eye on me while he was out of town (If only his eyes were all I had to worry about). Moriarty is a scientist, a very "hands-on" man if you catch my drift, and when Harry asked him to "take care of me," I'm afraid he took it quite literally. But hush-hush, don't tell Harry...
Last night's occasion of sin was a screening of "HOLY SMOKE!" We entered the screening room, and a very pleasant D-girl offered Moriarty a press packet, and me an icy glare. Imagine that! A dame disrepectin' a dame at a dame's picture. What's the world coming to when one working girl can't recognize another?
But let's cut to the chase. The movie was strange. I let it steep in my mind overnight, and it is a very strong cup of tea. Jane Campion seems like Cassandra. You know, a woman who speaks the truth, but is doomed to be misunderstood. She is a visionary, a prophet, but this film was more a piece of celluloid poetry than a story. There will be spoilers here.
The picture starts out in India where a young RUTH BARRON (Kate Winslet) finds meaning in her life through a Guru. She decides to stay in Indiaand live her life with CHIDAATMA BABA (Dhritiman Chaterji) and his followers.
This bit of the movie is very effective, in fact I would have to say the first third of this movie is the most intriguing and stirring. I felt what it must be like to be in this frenetic environment, and how stange and beautiful her spiritual awakening was. The dream-like quality of these scenes was quite affecting.
Ruth's hyterical friend PRUE (Samantha Murray) returns to Australia and convinces Ruth's family to retrieve their misguided girl. The family arranges to have Ruth de-programmed upon her return to Sydney. MIRIAM BARRON (Julie Hamilton) goes to India to get her daughter. In a very disturbing scene, mother and daughter meet in a filthy restaurant where Mum discovers the "toilet" is a "hole".
Ruth cannot be convinced to go home, even upon hearing her father is about to die. In measured tones, Ruth explains she'll see him in another life. Kate is utterly convincing here, her face glowing with joy and self-assurance. Her mother flees the restaurant only to have a life-threatening panic attack in the street, and as a result, Ruth returns home with her.
Arriving in Sydney, Ruth is unsuspecting and trusting of her parents. Meanwhile, the family has paid a fortune to bring a Cult Exit Specialist over from America. This is P.J. WATERS (Harvey Keitel). In the most unsettling scene in the film, Ruth learns her father is not ill at all, and as the understanding of her family's betrayal goes through her mind, she is surrounded by her "loved ones" and trapped. P.J. is reluctant to work on this case (his 190th) because his assistant cannot make it, but agrees when he sees his subject.
P.J. and Ruth are isolated in a hut far beyond her family's emu farm. Here in the outback, P.J. has three days to de-program her. Her spirit and devotion seem to surprise him, but he sticks to his agenda. After a series of harrowing scenes, we see P.J. try to break Ruth. He even shows her a video featuring the Manson family and Heaven's Gate cult. This is where the movie loses its drive, and the dramatic tension seems to dissapate. Wholly affected by this video (or is it the sight of P.J. feeling her sister-in-law's behind?) Ruth seems to lose herself.
Later that night, back at the hut, P.J. sees Ruth's Sari on fire. When he looks for Ruth he finds her weeping and naked outside. In her weakest moment, Ruth emplores P.J. to love her while urinating on herself. P.J. has rough sex with his client and the tables are now turned. Ruth is now in control, and during the remainder of her stay with P.J., she humiliates and degrades him hourly.
Ruth's family has become concerned for her welfare and attempts contact, but P.J. has left the phone off the hook. P.J.'s girlfriend and sometime-assistant CAROL (Pam Grier) goes to the hut looking for a cured client and finds a naked young woman, and a naked Cult Exit Specialist. Ruth's family has decided by now to go and get Ruth. Things seem to end badly for all, but a tacked-on "happy ending" left me dissatisfied.
All in all, this is not a bad film. It has some stunning content, but the transitions are awkward, and sometimes unconvincing. Kate Winslet is a sensitive actress, although here I didn't quite buy her as a member of this working class Aussie family. For one thing, her accent was never consistent with theirs. For another, her poise seems misplaced. Her performance is inspired and convincing through much of the film, however P.J. never stood a chance. This brings me to my next point: I have never seen Kate play weak. She eminates self-confidence in a way that she can't seem to shake in this film. I never saw a raw, helpless Ruth, and this is neccessary if I am to believe P.J.'s fall and the resulting reversal of roles.
As P.J., Harvey Keitel is sufficiently smooth and experienced, which is why I never understood his inability to resist Ruth. Of course she is beautiful and vulnerable, but after treating 189 cases, I didn't see the extraordinary circumstances which would lead a man to risk his reputation and his livelihood.
There was a strange dynamic between these two certainly, but I won't say I was entirely convinced by their chemistry. His lack of ethics strained the story's credibility. The supporting players were all quite good, especially Julie Hamilton (Ruth's Mum) and Sophie Lee (the Uberskank sister-in-law). The men in Ruth's family fared less well I'm afraid, many of them seeming cartoonish and underdeveloped. Ruth's father, for example, is such an unyielding asshole that I wouldn't have blamed Ruth for not returning to see him before his death. Ruth's brother Robbie is almost too stupid to be believed. These are thankless roles, and I think the actors did well with them. The director must have seen some value in having these men be so shallow. I wonder though, if she is not somehow cheating her audience, by making these people seem so obviously flawed.
The cinematography was gritty, which is thematically appropriate. I appreciated the intimacy of the sequences in the hut. However, I sometimes felt like I wasn't seeing what I was supposed to be seeing, like a voyeur with an obstucted view. I missed the fluid beauty of "The Piano" or "Portrait of a Lady". These movies made me feel full, as if my eyes had just eaten a huge meal.
This movie IS sexy, as I'm sure the Professor will attest, and there is something for everyone. If you like the Quilty/Lolita scenario, if you like golden showers, if you like sadistic women, male cross-dressers, gay men dressed as cowboys, it's all there. You will also see a glorious lesbian embrace, very very steamy. These scenes are also honest, uncomfortably so. This movie is challenging, and I liked that. Ms. Campion does not pander to an intended audience. She never judges her characters. Her films all have genius touches (the black and white sequence in "Portrait of a Lady", the underwater scene in "The Piano", the family photos in "An Angel at my Table"). Some of these moments are funny at inappropriate times, or they are oddly symbolic choices. Ruth attempts to escape P.J. by tying books to her feet -- this is brilliant! There are many of these peculiar moments in this film. However, the glue needed to hold this story together sometimes evaporates. When the movie lost its steam I was frustrated. This movie is a noble failure, if only because it could have been perfect.
And that's all the news that's fit to print.
