SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Brennan Camacho
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Lee Eisenberg
When we watched "Hideous Kinky" a few years ago, it seemed like a period piece: it looked at the days when people could go to a place like Morocco and not have to fear for their lives. Since September 11, 2001, it's become even more of a period piece.Is it a good movie? Even if the movie's no masterpiece, it's good just to be able to see Kate Winslet as a Swinging London flower child taking her daughters to Morocco, where she strikes up a relation with a local man. That probably would be dangerous nowadays.So see it just for that. Given the current state of the world, you may not have much more time to watch it.
ndrapela
Kate Winslett in this movie is like a handful of diamonds thrown into an outhouse of raw sewage. Kate is a wonderful, amazing actress and her presence in this movie is nothing other than a shame. The movie portrays a selfish, hippie mother traipsing about North Africa with no regard for her beautiful little girls as a sort of "fun" adventure. In other words, the mother is the heroine despite neglecting her children to espouse "free love" (in front of them) and this sort of thing. It is truly twisted. One gets the feeling that it was written by a self-centered, middle-aged woman who always wished she had done something like this but never got to. It is depressing and sad, especially if you are a parent.The movie also treats the savage culture of that area of the world as sort of quaint and beautiful in its own way. It's the old propaganda on "ethnocentrism" we have all been so ruthlessly subjected to in college in an attempt to brainwash us into believing that there is no such thing as a "civilized" culture. Why of course defecating on the ground and wiping with your hand is just as civilized as any other culture.If you enjoy child abuse or just lots of dirty, immoral people with no teeth, you may want to catch this movie. Otherwise, spare yourself the mental slime you will accumulate after having subjected yourself to such cultural and moral camel manure.
Philby-3
The tagline for this movie (on the DVD box) "It's not about escape, it's about discovery" would be inspiring if it were true, but I'm not sure 25 year old "Julia" found her time in Morocco as a single mother with two young girls living precariously on occasional cheques from home particularly life-changing. It is the late 60s. "Julia" (played with suitable poise by Kate Winslett) has fled London to Morocco after her painter husband has taken up with someone else. Marrakech is a cheap place to live, but it's a struggle. Her kids Bea and Lucy befriend Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), an acrobat from the Medina who promptly beds Julia. Charming though he is, he turns out to be unreliable. Her efforts to become a follower of Sufi mysticism end in rejection. Eventually Julia and her girls board the fabled Marrakech express, but it is in retreat from the exotic, not in search of it.It seems that Esther Freud, the original author, wrote her more than slightly autobiographical first novel from the point of view of Lucy, the younger child (6 years old in the film) and produced a very interesting book. The film is much more matter of fact, though the locations and cinematography are gorgeous, and Julia's struggle to survive is more obtrusive. It's an interesting country all right but Julia does not belong there.Your correspondent happened recently to be in Morocco, and Marrakech, and was told about this film by some local friends. They liked it because despite the beggars, heat and dust, it portrayed Morocco as a friendly, welcoming place. And so it is, but that does not make it the place for hippy dreamers. Ms Freud's mum settled down in the Home Counties after this experience. Here, Bea, the older girl, wants nothing more than to be "normal', to have a satchel, wear a uniform and go to school like all the other girls, and to heck with exotic Morocco. Lucy, on the other hand, just soaks it all in, and hey, 20 years later writes a promising first novel. Well, maybe Julia's odyssey was not entirely in vain.This film did not do well at the box office, despite the presence of Kate Winslett, and I can think of a couple of reasons (apart from the meaningless title) why not. The story, such as it is, is pretty discouraging and the locations over-relied on. (There are also a few dreadful minor performances). But as a psychological travel film it succeeds quite well, even if not everything is possible in the Moroccan Postal Service, as one brave official claims.Esther Freud happens to be the daughter of the noted British painter Lucien Freud, and hence the great-granddaughter of the great Sigmund, father of psychoanalysis. I mention this only because Julia has a couple of dreams great-granddad would not have had any trouble with, but Lucy's dreams eg the disembodied hand are more intriguing. Perhaps if the director could have approached the story more from Lucy's viewpoint it might have had more impact.
atrain224
"Hideous Kinky" is not a plot-driven movie but more of a meditation on time and place. And I can live with that. The photography is so rich with colors and beautiful locales, I want to visit Morrocco. The acting in splendid across the board with particular note to the two young girls who were handed quite a bit of duty with the roles. Where this movie failed me is in the character played by Kate Winslet. She behaves with such selfishness and stupidity--not once--but over and over again, that I really grew to dislike her. Sure...she may be a young, naive, adventurous, hippie in the early '70's, but a I refuse to believe she didn't realize what kind of danger she was putting her children in. "Hideous Kinky" is a good movie--not great. And it's good for one viewing, maybe two for the cinematography.
