Holy Smoke
**
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Cornerhouse (Manchester)
Released in the UK by Film Four on April 7, 2000; certificate 18; 115 minutes;
country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Jane Campion; produced by Jan
Chapman.
Written by Anna Campion, Jane Campion.
Photographed by Dion Beebe; edited by Veronika
Jenet.
CAST.....
Kate Winslet..... Ruth Barron
Harvey Keitel..... P.J. Waters
Pam Grier..... Carol
Julie Hamilton..... Miriam, mum
Tim Robertson..... Gilbert, dad
Sophie Lee..... Yvonne
Daniel Wylie..... Robbie
"Something... something happened, didn't
it?"
So suggests Ruth Barron at the end of "Holy
Smoke", and she's right -- something has happened. I'm just not sure
what. Here is a movie that promises to be a drama about two passionate people
waging intellectual war on each other, but disintegrates into a bizarre mixture
of "Ticket to Heaven", "Last Tango in Paris", "Klute" and
"Coneheads".
The early scenes glimpse Ruth (Kate Winslet),
a young Australian woman, vacationing in India. Back home her parents are
informed that she has joined some sort of religious cult. They go beserk;
this is not a sophisticated or open-minded family. Their house is in worse
shape than their caravan. The patriarch, Gilbert (Tim Robertson), flaunts
a hairpiece, fake tan and bulging belly. Mother Miriam (Julie Hamilton) has
weird mood swings and runs around wincing. The grown-up kids burp, fart,
groan and attend tacky theme nights at pubs.
Given that she's grown up around these boors,
it's hardly surprising Ruth wants to escape into an alternative lifestyle.
So the family lure her back to Oz with cruel lies about dying relatives,
and then arrange for her to meet with an American "exit counsellor", P.J.
Waters (Harvey Keitel). The guy has a great track record, having convinced
almost two hundred people to leave clandestine sects.
P.J. takes Ruth to an isolated shack. It is agreed
that they will talk for three days. "You're never gonna break me," Ruth insists.
"You're right," responds P.J. "Your own reason should break you." There is
real tension onscreen at this point, because Winslet and Keitel are intelligent
actors who don't avoid each other's gazes. Even when their characters are
refusing to talk, we see them seething, and trust that when they finally
do argue their conversations will set the screen ablaze.
Unfortunately there never really is much opening
up about the issues at hand, or reasons for the characters' beliefs. Ruth
does not even tell us what she thinks she's learned in India, so we can never
judge whether she has been taken in by a sinister cult or simply found solace
in a peaceful commune. "Holy Smoke" therefore lacks context -- is Ruth's
indignation to P.J. something we're supposed to cheer or pity?
I haven't even hinted at the film's more bizarre
reaches. One is the portrayal of Ruth's family, which goes so over the top
it undermines the drama, by painting its members as a bunch of giggling,
snorting animals who express their feelings through twitching and raised
voices. Then there's Ruth and P.J.'s fourth day in the hut, in which both
characters lose their reserve in favour of violence, sex and mind games.
"Holy Smoke" begins with important discussion, follows it by poking fun at
rural lifestyles and ends with Harvey Keitel wearing a dress and trying to
break people's noses. What's going on? Answers on a postcard
please.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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