As a glimpse into a curious subculture this provokes interest, but in dramatic and political terms it’s a missed opportunity.
Comment
07/07/06
Heading South (2006)
69
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:81
Fresh:56
Rotten:25
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: As touching as it is disturbing, Heading South is an unconventional exploration of desire and longing, with superb performances and direction.
Theatrical Release:07-07-2006
Synopsis: Laurent Cantet's feature film stars Charlotte Rampling and is set in 1970s Haiti. The film examines a time and place in which wealthy women from the east headed to the country in search of sexual... [More]
Reviews for Heading South
Top CriticHeading South is a well-crafted adaptation of three short stories about rich, white, middle-aged North American women travelling through 70s Haiti in search of no-strings sex with young black men.
07/04/06
Top CriticThe film is rich, cultured and slightly tiresome.
07/08/06
Heading South is a beautifully shot, superbly acted, thought-provoking and ultimately moving film with superb performances from all concerned.
07/06/06
It’s a delight; an entertaining, moving, audacious and stimulating conversation about happiness, love, jealousy, fear, race, sex, class, and social and colonial oppression -- in short, the relationship between the personal and the political.
07/06/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
10/18/08
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01/06/07
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09/30/06
Provocative subject matter and a rather magnificent performance by Charlotte Rampling aside, the occasional flickering hint of deeper meaning isn't enough to sustain interest.
08/24/06
A movie about middle-aged women frolicking with smooth-skinned Haitian locals on the beach can be either erotic and sensual, or exploitive and pointless.
02/12/06
Laurent Cantet directs his adaptation of Dany Laferreiere's La Chair du Maitre as if it were a Danielle Steele novel.
08/25/06
The women are meant to level the emotional playing field and add depth to what is, at heart, a story about the exploitation of poor nations by rich and powerful ones. But they wind up being too bitter and unstable to elicit much sympathy.
07/20/06
Top CriticOkay, we'll admit that the ideal of being fawned over and adored by half-dressed men has some appeal, but this movie doesn't... sex in paradise shouldn't be this uninteresting.
11/30/06
While an important message is at the movie's core, Cantet just can't find a way to make us care.
01/04/07
... a shot of reality disguised as an umbrella drink, and is as uncomfortable an experience as having sand stuck in your swimming suit.
11/30/06
It's nice that they're finally adapting Harlequin romance novels into movies.
07/04/06
It fails.
07/08/06
Laurent Cantet is less successfu ... with his obvious intention to use the women as a metaphor for the colonial meddling of the West in Third World nations, where exploitation is a rule of thumb.
08/25/06
A well-acted but misguided tale of displaced sexual longing on the beaches of Baby Doc Duvalier's 1970s Haiti.
07/07/06
Albert's bitterness deserved further development, but the real puzzle is why Cantet doesn't let Legba have a say.
02/03/06
Top CriticLatest News for Heading South
July 06, 2006:
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This week at the movies, we've got pirates back for more box office bounty ("Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest") and a journey to the center of the mind... More...
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