Hideous Kinky

It's 1972 Marrakesh. Julia (Kate Winslet) moves from London to Morocco with his young daughters Bea and Lucy. The girls' father has another woman in London. They struggle waiting for the father's check to come in. Julia falls for acrobat street performer Bilal (Saïd Taghmaoui). She goes to study in Algiers with Sufi mystic Ben Said.

There is a meandering pointlessness about this movie. It doesn't have enough exotic style. The movie doesn't tap into a child's wonder. It doesn't have tension of surviving in a foreign land. Kate Winslet looks downbeat which somewhat fits her character. She may want to be someone looking for spirituality but she strikes as someone self-obsessed running away from her troubled home. She's more about her love life than taking care of her children.

I had missed this movie when it came out over 20 years ago but now was able to watch it on the Kanopy streaming site via my public library's subscription. The title might be misleading, it derives from a short exchange between the two young daughters as they lay in bed, one says "hideous" and the other responds "kinky", it is not clear that they actually know what the meanings are.

The movie is filmed entirely in Morocco. Kate Winslet, only 22 during filming, seems to be playing an almost 30 woman with two young daughters. She is Julia, they leave their London home and her poet husband to find out what a different life is like. Her husband is supposed to send money to them periodically but that becomes unreliable and they have to devise ways to try to make ends meet.

The result is a series of adventures and misadventures before they finally board a train in the start of a journey back to England. It is a well made movie with many interesting elements, but when it is over there isn't much residual impact. Most interesting to me was to see a sort of travelogue of Morocco, a place I've never been.

Kate Winslet and her young co-stars are charming in this film. The children have some priceless scenes which are faultlessly acted and leave you wishing that you could encounter such vibrant children in real life instead of the ones prone to throwing tantrums in crowded shopping malls.

The story drifts all over the place - more of a string of events meandering along in search of a purpose, much like Winslet's character. The scenery is stunning, the colours of Morrocco vibrant and the glimpse into another culture is well executed. A fine film to watch if you want visual stimulation, but don't wish to concentrate on a complex story.

It has been quite a while since I saw this film (I viewed it in the theatres when it opened), but I read some of the negative user comments and decided to throw in my 2 cents.

I remember not having a clue what to expect as I walked into the theatre as I had heard nothing of the film and was accompanying a friend who wanted to see it.

I also remember being touched by the performances of all involved, especially Ms. Winslet and her lovely on-screen children. The scenery was beautiful and the story was a poignant journey into the life of a young family uprooted from their London home to travel to the Moroccan countryside. As the final scene ended and the credits began I remember sighing with enjoyment and satisfaction at an hour and a half of viewing pleasure.

While the movie will not appeal to everyone, I must say that it is nice to sit and watch a simple film that is not bursting with gore, nudity and profanity for a change.

A surprise treat!

A young English mother, Julia (Kate Winslet), packs up her two daughters, aged 5 and 7, moves to Morocco and embarks on a voyage of self discovery. Set in 1972, the film catches up with Julia and kids nine months into their trip. We're never told why she left London, but her artist-husband back home has just stopped providing the rent checks. This is putting a crimp in the self-awareness game. In the process of surviving and searching for Sufic fulfillment, Julia must also deal with her children's growing disenchantment with life in Morocco, and their desire to return to a stable, normal (and English) childhood. Family friction increases when she takes a young Moroccan lover, and a group of wealthy English ex-pats start second guessing Julia's childrearing abilities.

There is no big story here, no buildup of drama, and no real endgame. "Hideous Kinky" is a study of the family dynamics amongst this odd troupe. The acting is very good, especially the two children, and the on-location filming in Morocco is a treat. This film is definitely not for everyone, but if you are in to this type of movie, you should enjoy it. The single word that I would use to describe "Hideous Kinky" is 'honest'.