Not all of the ensuing psychodrama works completely, but as ever, it's just so pleasant to see someone making a movie that's about something
Holy Smoke! (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:73
Fresh:32
Rotten:41
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Superb performances hindered by weak script and incoherent story.
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: In this wildly inventive film from director Jane Campion (THE PIANO), Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, a headstrong Australian woman determined to get back to India in time to join a group marriage to... In this wildly inventive film from director Jane Campion (THE PIANO), Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, a headstrong Australian woman determined to get back to India in time to join a group marriage to her guru. Her family, hoping to break the cult leader's psychic grip on Ruth, hires P.J. (Harvey Keitel), a macho American deprogramming expert teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. A no-holds-barred battle of the psyches, cultures, and sexes ensues as P.J. and Ruth fight, connive, and eventually fall into bed together in what becomes a mutual search for individual truth. The strong performances of the two stars, a hilariously offbeat script (cowritten by Campion and her sister, Anna), and a wealth of delicious, texture-enhancing flourishes (including some surreal bits of computer animation, Pam Grier's work in a small role as P.J.'s partner, and a wild opening sequence set to Neil Diamond's "Holly Holy") combine to make HOLY SMOKE! a weird, winning blend of goofy comedy and hallucinatory mysticism. [More]
Starring: Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Sophie Lee, Tim Robertson
Starring: Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Sophie Lee, Tim Robertson, Pam Grier, Dan Wyllie
Director: Jane Campion
Director: Jane Campion
Screenwriter: Anna Campion, Jane Campion
Producer: Jan Chapman
Composer: Angelo Badalamenti
Reviews for Holy Smoke!
Holy Smoke is a fun picture full of vibrant imagery, wacky characters, and carnal aspirations.
Filled with flashy sight gags, overwrought performances, and madly overlapping dialogue.
Winslet and Keitel make this a must-view in a season where the scent of Oscar is in the air.
Holy Smoke is one of those movies that takes some potentially fascinating ideas and shipwrecks them by poor execution and even worse writing.
As Holy Smoke moves from its early mix of rapture and humor into this more serious, confrontational stage, it runs into trouble.
It's little more than a revisionist version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew without the clever wordplay.
Holy Smoke does journey all over the map in a variety of tones and styles, but Campion is a master director and keeps this under control.
A tightly wound, heady affair that actually comes to seem more deranged as it progresses.
Despite the good performances and Campion's visual reach, her characters are too specific/eccentric to transcend their storyline and make us feel that there's something to be absorbed from the P.J.-Ruth imbroglio.
Jane Campion va en franco descenso en cuanto a calidad y coherencia cinematográfica se refiere
Holy Smoke is unusual and it's smart. Well, insofar as we can figure out.
Campion's seductive flourishes are eye-catching but never gratuitous, and the image of Winslet as a multi-armed goddess is truly ravishing.
Confused and lacking a tangible emotional center, Campion's tale of a sleazy cult deprogrammer and his voluptuous Aussie charge is chock-full of half-baked statements, notions, and scenes...
Campion, who co-wrote the script with her sister Anna, appears to have spent so much time and energy creating Ruth that she didn't have anything left over for rest of the characters.
Although the cinematography by Dion Beebe is beautiful, and most of the performances click, Campion never really gets to the point of what she's trying to say. It's all too vague.
Holy Smoke is the ultimate demonstration that Campion isn't nearly as intelligent a director as she thinks she is.
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